Personal Profile of Brian Wilson

I am a lifelong resident of Bangor and attended Trinity Primary School and Bangor Grammar School. My father owned a pharmacy on the Clandeboye Road for 30 years. I am a former civil servant in the Department of Education and took a part-time degree at the Open University. In 1973 left the civil service to do a full-time Masters degree in Politics at the University of Strathclyde.

After I completed my Masters at Strathclyde I returned to Northern Ireland to take up a lecturing post in Omagh Technical College. In 1979 I transferred to the College of Business Studies, Belfast as a lecturer in government and economics. For the next 25 years I worked as a lecturer / senior lecturer at BIFHE.

In 1979 I married Anne (Councillor Anne Wilson) whom I met when studying in Scotland. We have two children Scott born in 1980 and Allan 1982 along with two children Roy and Caroline from Anne’s previous marriage.

I was a councillor on North Down Council for 34 years (1981-2015) and have chaired most of the major committees.

I had the great honour of being Mayor of North Down in 1993/4. Ten years later, Anne was also elected as Mayor of North Down.
I am interested in sport and am a lifelong supporter of Bangor Football Club. I am also interested in protecting our environment and have been a member of many environmental organisations such as Green Peace, Friends of the Earth, Assisi and the Woodland Trust.

In recent years I have been involved in promoting Bangor’s Christian Heritage and served as Secretary to the Friends of Columbanus, Bangor. For the 1400th anniversary of Saint Columbanus’ death, in particular I followed Saint Columbanus’ journey from Bangor to Bobbio.

See my video for the 2007 election