The new president of a prestigious Bradford-based society plans to expand its influence across the world.

Dr Peter Lockett, president of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, said he intended to use his year of office to promote the group more internationally.

He said: "The SDC is a professional body which has made an enormous contribution to the coloration industry, but needs to consolidate and expand its influence by further partnerships in the now global coloration industry.

"It is an unrivalled centre of excellence. One which has real relevance for every individual and all organisations involved in the coloration industries of the new millennium.''

Dr Lockett takes over from Dr Ian Holme who completed his presidential year on May 5

Dr Lockett, 65, is the 78th president of the Society which was founded in 1884 and is now recognised as one of the world's leading authorities on the development and application of colour.

A life-long member of the Society and its honorary treasurer from 1988 until 1999, Dr Lockett was a Courtaulds Research Fellow from 1959 to 1961.

In 1968 he joined the family textile finishing company, A Lockett & Co Ltd, where he became chairman and managing director. He retired in 1999 when the company was sold to Halley Stevensons of Dundee and he joined their board as a non-executive director.

He is a past president of the Textile Finishers' Association and in 1999 he was appointed visiting professor in the Department of Technology at the Bolton Institute.

Dr Lockett was awarded the Society's Bronze Medal for his services to the Manchester Region in 1963, and a Gold Medal for the development of high temperature steaming as a fixation method for dyestuffs in 1976.

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