Cliff Bashforth Honorary Fellowship

Citation follows……

Chancellor,

Our honoree today is a Preston man. He was born and raised in Manchester, but he lives here and he works here. Cliff Bashforth is the top consultant for Europe’s leading image consultancy firm, Colour Me Beautiful, as well as the founder and director of his own company, Simply Image, based here in Preston. He has a client base of over 19,000 individuals, including TV presenters and politicians, whom he coaches to achieve their professional and personal goals. Major blue chip companies including banks, financial institutions, retailers, airlines and optical brands call on Cliff’s expertise throughout the UK and Europe. British Airways, Peugeot, Marks and Spencer, Boots, Next, Forte Hotels, BUPA – they’ve all come to rely upon him. Cliff gives presentations to audiences in their hundreds, all over Europe, and runs seminars and training courses for companies wishing to help staff project a better image and to maximise their potential. High Street retailers regularly call upon Cliff to assist in the training of new employees and to increase standards of client care and service.

Television viewers have seen him on Granada and BBC2, one day holding forth on the topic of ‘tatoos’ and another on ‘dressing for success’. He is a regular fashion presenter on the Ideal World Shopping Channel, and also lends his expertise to the QVC shopping channel. He has written for The Guardian, the Daily Express, Men’s Health and Cosmopolitan. And in 2007 he became the first male image consultant in Europe to achieve ‘Master Status’ within the Federation of Image Professionals International; in 2008 he was awarded their highest accolade: ‘Most Inspirational Consultant’.

It is fitting and proper that the people of Preston – and this University – match the expressions of appreciation and respect that Cliff Bashforth has received at the European level. Because in spite of his pan-European profile, he has never forgotten us. He is a familiar voice on BBC Radio Lancashire and in the Lancashire Evening Post and the Lancashire Telegraph. He has actively supported a host of local charities including St Catherine’s Hospice, Derian House, Vine House and Sure Start. Here at UCLan he has delivered both inspirational and aspirational sessions for our conferences and personal development programmes.

Cliff may in fact see a bit of irony in his presence here today. As he recalls, ‘I think I made every excuse under the sun not to attend school – I disliked everything about it.’ As for university, he says, that was ‘out of the question, as wild horses wouldn’t have been able to drag me into another place of learning’. He always preferred working – he is a self-confessed workaholic who began a career in retail, at Dixon’s in Blackpool, as a junior salesman’, which, he says, was a euphemism for cleaner, tea-maker, shelf-stacker and delivery-van-unloader. But by 18 he was the company’s youngest store manager, in Wrexham, and went on to a host of other training and management roles in the electrical trade. Then in 1983, as he recalls, ‘totally out of the blue’, a job came up with the Wella hairdressing division. This was the start of Cliff’s love affair with colour and the whole concept of image makeover. The philosophy he learned then – and which he says is even more relevant now – is that ‘the image you project speaks volumes about you, even before you open your mouth’.

Chancellor, I’m sure our honoree today would never go so far as to say, ‘It’s all about image’. No university in their right mind would honor such a shallow and preposterous position. But image does matter, as our interface with the world at large. It is often the first portal to it. Cliff has worked tirelessly, professionally, and sensitively to integrate image-consciousness into our daily lives, and in the process he has indeed coloured the world beautiful. So it is with greatest appreciation, on behalf of the Academic Board, that I present to you Cliff Bashforth for the award of Honorary Fellow of the University of Central Lancashire.

Barmey taking it easy

It’s all too much; turkey, ham, chicken and gravy! Thankfully I’m not a drinker! Could you imagine all that food plus alcohol… I’d be as fat as a…….well, I don’t know what! It’s 3 walks a day from the 2nd January.

Colour Me Beautiful Sweden

Here’s me with Anki Svennson (left) (CMB’s director/distributor for Sweden) & Christina, one of the leading image consultants in Scandanavia.

colouring the world beautiful

For more information regarding training with Colour Me Beautiful please visit the Colour Me Beautiful Training Academy (click the link below)

http://www.colourmebeautiful.co.uk/training-home

Shop until you drop

We enjoyed two days of Colour, Style, Make-up, Accessorising, Shopping, Eating & Drinking. What a great way to spend a weekend! CLICK HERE  for more information

The price includes two nights dinner, bed & breakfast at The Rendezvous Hotel in Skipton, all Colour, Style & Make-Up Workshops, Coach Transfer to & from the shops in Leeds and……… pre-dinner drinks.

NEW DATE 25th to 27th MAY 2012

for more information & booking details – CLICK HERE

After meetings and a final screen test we’ve both been offered some regular work with the TV company. It seems that they really want to push their clothing ranges so it looks like there maybe several different shows.

Cliff Bashforth - What Not to Wear

I’ll keep you informed of the dates. Also, if you’d like to know where I am and what’s happening you can now follow me on Twitter  @simplyimage

Breakfast TV

Cliff pictured above (left) with the two morning TV presenters, the owner of Colour Me Beautiful Ukraine and her PR manager. On set during the interview.

Colour me Beautiful

Pictured above are a few of the ladies… we’ve just sat down for dinner on the Saturday evening. There’s always lots of eating and drinking over the weekend. The priority of course… is leaving looking fabulous!