Kilkenny native receives Freedom of the City of London
A Kilkenny man was recently awarded the Freedom of the City of London at a ceremony at The Guildhall in London’s financial district.
Vincent Keaveny the first Irish-born Lord Mayor of the City of London nominated Brendan Dixon formerly of Lower Patrick Street, Kilkenny as a recognition of his 40-year career in financial services.
Brendan, 63, is son of Paddy, who was chief engineer at Kilkenny County Council and his mother Gertie who took an active part of Bishop Peter Birch’s group that set up social services in the city. The Dixon home was a lively place to grow up with his ten siblings - Margaret, Padraic, Gregory, Miriam (RIP) Thomas, Catherine, David, John, Vincent and Ann Maire.
Schooling at St Patricks De La Salle led on to Kieran’s College, where lifelong friends were made, some of whom were able to attend the ceremony in London.
At the age of seventeen Brendan headed to London with some of his Kilkenny pals and after a number years working in advertising, he started a new career in financial services in 1982. He then branched out and set up his own independent firm BKD Wealth Management which still operates today with his daughter Tara who is an advisor in the firm. Much of his work involved helping and advising Irish people who had come to London and started their own businesses like him.
After forty years of service Brendan has now stepped back from advising and plans to spend some of his time working as a consultant to the profession.
Leaving Kilkenny during the long hot summer of 1976 Brendan planned to get a job and stay a few month and he is still there and loves his life in London with his wife Sheila, who is of Kerry extraction and their three grown up children Tara, Tiernan and Paddy.
When asked, Brendan “with regard to this award, as I have always said, you can’t keep a good cat down!”.