Mr O’Brien has served as Headteacher at Our Lady of Ransom for nearly 20 years, during which time he has proved to be a very popular head. The staff and pupils had organised a special mass to mark his departure, and to wish him well for the future; Mark attended as the local MP.
As a keepsake, Mark presented Mr O’Brien with a pair of cufflinks marked “Ayes” and “Noes”, to represent the terminology used in the voting lobbies in the House of Commons. Mark made the presentation at the end of the Service, which was witnessed by a number of the senior staff and Governors at the School.
Commenting after the special mass, Mark said:
“Mr O’Brien has been an extremely successful and charismatic head of Our Lady of Ransom, and has seen the school go from strength to strength, including overseeing the project to build its new administration block which I had the pleasure of opening some months ago. Although many at the school are obviously sad to see Mr O’Brien go, the service itself was a very happy one, and was conducted in a very upbeat tone. I thought it would be a nice gesture at the end to present Mr O’Brien with a small gift to acknowledge all the very hard work that he has done both for the school and the thousands of pupils who have passed through his care, but also for the wider community in Rayleigh. Mr O’Brien has been a very good Headteacher and I wish him all the best for both a happy and active retirement”.