Brenda Hale (Northern Ireland politician) explained

Brenda Hale
Honorific-Suffix:OBE
Constituency Am:Lagan Valley
Assembly:Northern Ireland
Term Start:5 May 2011
Term End:30 January 2017
Predecessor:Paul Butler
Successor:Pat Catney
Birth Date:1968 1, df=yes
Birth Place:Bangor, Northern Ireland
Nationality:British
Party:Democratic Unionist Party
Spouse:Mark Hale (died 2009, KIA)
Children:2Victoria Alexandra

Brenda Hale, OBE, (born 29 January 1968) is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). She sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 2011[1] until her narrow defeat at the 2017 Assembly election.

Hale's husband served with the British Army and was killed in Afghanistan in 2009. Hale then started to speak to the Ministry of Defence on behalf of other war widows.[2] As of August 2015, she is a Political Member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.[3]

Her book, I Married A Soldier,[4] was published in 2017. It details Hale's family life with her husband and daughters leading to her entry into Northern Irish politics.

Hale was honoured in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours list and was appointed an OBE for political service.[5]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.u.tv/election2011/Constituency.aspx?id=12 Lagan Valley
  2. Sharon Ferguson, "Out with the old and in with the new at Stormont", BBC News, 9 May 2011
  3. Web site: The Board. 22 August 2015. 8 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160508192623/http://www.nipolicingboard.org.uk/index/theboard.htm. dead.
  4. Book: I Married A Soldier. .
  5. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/714825/Birthday_Honours_2018_-_the_Prime_Minister_s_list.pdf Birthday Honours lists 2018