JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: SPUC activist honoured

Friday, 25 January 2008

SPUC activist honoured

On Wednesday I blogged on how Mrs Frances Levett was due to receive a civic award for her work for the society. The picture shows her at yesterday's ceremony with Fr James O'Hanlon, parish priest of St John the Baptist and St Peter, Welby Lane, Melton Mowbray, who proposed Mrs Levett for the award.

About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.