ISLAND LIFE
Now is Nick's time
Nick Hayward will
succeed Susie Sheldon
as the High Sheriff of
the Isle of Wight, a
position he will hold
until April 2013.
Nick is well known to many Islanders,
having run the Seaview Hotel with his
wife Nicky for 25 years.
Nick has strong Island roots, his
family having had a house in Seaview
in 1898 and he has photographs of
his grandmother on Seaview Pier in
the same year. Since then the family
visited the Island every year until 1977
when Nick married Nicky, who came
from Ryde.
The couple bought the Seaview Hotel
in 1980, and collected a fist full of
trophies including their final accolade
a Queens Award for Sustainable
Development. When Nick left the
Seaview in 2005, having sold to Brian
Gardener, he went on to work as a
consultant with a number of other
high profile hospitality businesses
including the Garlic Farm at
Newchurch and for his brother-in-law
at The Royal Hotel, Ventnor.
He joined the board of the IW
Youth Trust in 2006, the local charity
offering counselling and support
to vulnerable children, where he
is Deputy Chairman. He has been
instrumental in the set up of The
Works partially funded and supported
by The Royal Hotel, Ventnor along
with the Big Lottery Fund and TSB
Foundation.
In 2006 he and Nicky joined forces
with Ian and Marianne Johnson
from Brighstone, to form the charity
Building Schools for Africa. Since its
conception, when they hoped to build
one school a year for five years, the
charity has grown way beyond their
wildest expectations. They have now
raised over half a million pounds and
built 40 schools including Primary,
Secondary and Technical Schools. On
their last visit to Cameroon in West
Africa, Nick was honoured by two
different local chiefs, known as Fons,
who made him a Shay and a General
and he was met by Government
Ministers who gave him a personal
letter of appreciation.
Nick has three children. His son Ben
is married to Vix and lives in London;
daughter Pip also lives in London and
the youngest Jules lives in Seaview
and works for the Ellen MacArthur
Foundation in Cowes.
A keen tennis player, Nick is a
member of both IW Sports Club and
Ryde Lawns. He also sails regularly in
the Sea View Mermaids with Willie
Caws and at Cowes with Philip Bown
in his Daring. But Nick’s greatest love
is his annual cycling trip with a group
of chums, which he has done for the
last 27 years. This year they are off to
Italy but unfortunately because of his
commitments as High Sheriff he is
having to forego the trip.
www.visitislandlife.com
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