Scarborough RNLI President Appointed as New North Yorkshire Deputy Lieutenant

New recruits with backgrounds in education, tourism and the arts have been appointed to the ranks of North Yorkshire’s Deputy Lieutenants by the Lord Lieutenant to support her work across the region.

Three new Deputy Lieutenants have been recruited by the monarch’s representative for North Yorkshire, Jo Ropner, to act alongside her and help to develop even closer links with communities.

Scarborough property and restaurant business owner, John Senior MBE, Middlesbrough College’s first female principal, Zoe Lewis CBE, and artist Clare Granger are now among the 37 Deputy Lieutenants for North Yorkshire.

Mrs Ropner, who has been the Lord Lieutenant for North Yorkshire since 2018, said:

“The new Deputy Lieutenants bring a great deal of experience and expertise and will play a vital role in helping to build even closer links with the community.

“They provide a breadth of knowledge that will prove to be invaluable in aiding the work of the Lord Lieutenant’s office, and it is a privilege to announce their appointments.”

John Senior returned to his hometown of Scarborough in the early 1980s and carved out a successful career in the tourism sector over the next four decades by expanding his family’s property and restaurant business.

Joining the Territorial Army in 1979, Mr Senior was commissioned in 1988 and holds the distinction of being the first Territorial Army soldier to see operational service in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. He was deployed to Afghanistan in December 2001 as part of 16 UK Air Assault Brigade.

A keen mountain walker, Mr Senior was an active member and chair of the Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team and more recently served as the Scarborough lifeboat operations manager and is now the station’s president.

He continues with his charity work, including roles with the Coast and Vale Learning Trust, the Merchants of the Staple of England Charitable Trust and Heroes Welcome UK, a scheme designed to encourage communities to demonstrate support to members of the Armed Forces.

He was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 2006 for his service in the Territorial Army and the MBE in 2016 for services to the Armed Forces and Scarborough. Mr Senior also has an honorary doctorate from the University of Hull.

He married his wife, Nicola, in 1984 and they have a daughter, Harriet, and two grandchildren.

Zoe Lewis became Middlesbrough College’s first female principal in 2013 and has since developed courses in engineering, green energy and construction as well as the health and digital sectors.

The college group, which is based in the Tees Valley, has a turnover of about £60 million, with its apprenticeship training arm Northern Skills serving employers across the North-East of England. The college supports more than 2,000 employers with their workforce needs and trains in excess of 13,000 students annually.

Mrs Lewis is currently part of the Further Education Commissioner’s Principals Reference Group, a trustee of the Education Endowment Foundation and chairs a range of national groups that work to advise and improve on skills policies.Image
John Senior and Clare Granger

Clare Granger, who lives in High Birstwith near Harrogate, studied law at Cambridge University and qualified as a solicitor before working in York in the legal profession.

She then changed her career to become a professional artist and her work has been shown in galleries in London and Oxfordshire.

Mrs Granger’s volunteering work with charities has included roles such as the Gift Aid secretary for her local church for 20 years, the treasurer of the North Yorkshire branch of the Art Fund for 10 years and a governor of Queen Margaret’s School in Escrick, near York, for seven years.

She is a champion for the IDAS charity, that supports people affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence, and is the president of Henshaws, a charity supporting people living with sight loss and a range of other disabilities. She was High Sheriff of North Yorkshire in 2023/24.

Mrs Granger and her husband, Mark, have lived in North Yorkshire for more than 40 years and have two children and three grandchildren.

Deputy Lieutenants are chosen from a wide variety of backgrounds and provide specialist local knowledge to the Lord Lieutenant, assisting her in performing her duties and advising her on issues in the community to build closer links.

The number of Deputy Lieutenants is in proportion to the population of North Yorkshire, and they are drawn from different walks of life and from different parts of the county.

There are now 37 Deputy Lieutenants across the North Yorkshire Lieutenancy’s area, which covers North Yorkshire, York and Teesside to the south of the River Tees.

The Deputy Lieutenants have been appointed from a wide range of society including representatives involved in academia, the military, business, the judiciary, farming and the charity and voluntary sector.