Michael Arnold

Michael John Arnold, who attended the School between 1943 and 1952, passed away with tragic suddenness after taking ill at his Lowry Hill home in Bangor on 20 January 2016.

Born in Gillingham, Kent, in 1935, Mike – as he was widely known – arrived in Northern Ireland with his mother at the outbreak of the Second World War, in September 1939. His father Alf had been one of the first people to transfer, two years earlier, from the Rochester Seaplane Mike was a member of the Medallion XV in 1949/50 Works to the new Short Brothers and Harland aircraft factory at Queen’s Island.

The family settled in Bangor in 1942 and a year later Mike enrolled at Bangor Grammar School, where he enjoyed all sports, including athletics and rugby, but it was at golf that he excelled. In later life he played off a single handicap at Bangor Golf Club.

Apart from a two-year period in the late 1950s when he worked for Boeing in Seattle, he spent all his working life with Short Brothers and Harland and then Bombardier Shorts, until his retirement in 1996. At that time he held the position of company chief designer.

It was at Shorts that he met his future wife Phyllis, who was also employed there. They married in 1958 and had two sons, Garth and Peter, both former pupils of the School.

Following his retirement, Mike became fully involved in his wife’s antique and art business. He had a wide and in-depth knowledge of his many interests, being a collector of fine Irish glass and antiquarian books. He also loved wood – both to work with and to appreciate as furniture.

A true gentleman, Mike will be greatly missed by the family circle and his many friends.