cllr.colin.tomlinson@stanleyandstanleycommon-pc.gov.uk

Colin has lived in Stanley Common for the best part of 40 years. He is originally from Nottingham and moved to the area in 1981 after marrying Kathleen. Kathleen was born in Stanley Common and Colin soon adopted the area as his home. Kathleen's grandfather, ex-miner Joe Malpass, was one of the founding members of the Stanley Common Parish Council.

Colin has had an extensive career working in several sectors of industry and education. He originally started his career in the print industry as a lithographic artist and retoucher, spending 5 years at Nottingham Trent Polytechnic studying his vocation. Colin went on to be a manager and director in the print industry. He also established his own Graphics business in Ilkeston. Colin moved into technical management and worked for several organisations overseeing innovation, quality and management changes. His focus on quality and change management led him to enrol at Derby University to study for a Masters degree in Management MBA. This also started his career in Higher Education. Due to his extensive industry knowledge Colin was invited to become an associate lecturer for the university working on the MBA, HND, HNC, ACCA and CIMA courses delivering and specialising in Operations Management & Quality. This led on to also working in Further Education at the Derby College International Department, writing and delivering courses. He was pivotal in writing and delivering courses on Entrepreneurial Management, Change Management and Total Quality Management in Bosnia. Colin also was part of the team delivering the RAWABIT (change) program to post-war Iraqi professors from Baghdad University. He also taught many students from Libya, specialising in Total Quality Management for the oil industry.

Alongside his higher and further education, Colin studied Canine Behaviour Management with the Guild of Dog Trainers to enhance his passion for re-homing and training ex-working gun dogs. This led on to another career change when he created Black Lab Blue Sky Dog One-2-One Dog Training. He went on to write and deliver lectures at Derby College on their Animal Behaviour degree courses. To enhance his dog training business Colin spotted an opportunity to develop and introduce his own brand of Canine Nutrition. The Healthy K9 brand is still going strong and is now owned by family members. In 2018 Colin contracted stage 3 prostate cancer, so the time was right to retire and focus on recovery post surgery and treatment. Colin is now cancer-free and is a 'Cancer Buddy' to other sufferers, helping them come to terms with the mental and physical side of prostate cancer.

Colin's interests are watching rugby (too old to compete now), dog ownership, listening to music, reading and his main hobby is wildlife photography. The photography is something he chose to focus on (excuse the pun) to aid his recovery from cancer. Please check out local social media - you may spot some of his work. Colin has had 3 previous terms on the Parish Council and is committed to delivering improvements to help enrich the lives of parishioners in Stanley & Stanley Common