Jan Garrill is made a Deputy Lieutenant of North Yorkshire

Jan Garrill our dynamic CEO has recently been made a DL of the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire – but what does that mean? In this news post she asks ‘What’s in a suffix?’

When I was interviewed for the post of Chief Executive of Two Ridings back in August 2014, I noticed that the Chair of the foundation had DL after his name. Despite a bit of searching, I couldn’t work out what DL stood for and I never got chance to ask Philip in the interview either. Fast forward to March 2023 and I now have DL after my name and after 9 years in post I now know that DL stands for Deputy Lieutenant, and I have had lots of positive experience of how they, the Lord Lieutenant and the High Sheriff of each county are a force for good.

Jan Garrill DL with Lord Lieutenant Jo Ropner and HRH the Prince and Princess of Wales

According to Wikipedia: ‘In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is a Crown appointment and one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area, which in England is in the ceremonial county.’ In North Yorkshire the ‘ceremonial county’ covers not only the current North Yorkshire and York local authority areas, but also the bit of Teesside which is south of the Tees.

The 32 Deputy Lieutenants of the region are nominated by the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Jo Ropner.

Jo is His Majesty The King’s representative in the county. She leads the Lieutenancy, helping to foster good relations and co-operation between all kinds of organisation in every part of the county. The Lieutenancy also promotes North Yorkshire, York and Teesside, its people, culture, diversity, heritage and history by serving its communities and encouraging engagement, voluntary service and achievement across all groups and sectors.

Deputy Lieutenants are there to assist Jo with any duties as may be required, at local ceremonies and official events for example, from opening exhibitions to Remembrance Sunday parades. We also get involved in supporting local applications for the Kings Awards for Voluntary Service and the Kings Award for Enterprise.

DLs tend to be people who either have served the local community, or have a history of public service in other fields. Four DLs were appointed recently, so as well as me, there is Rebecca Cotterall, an artist and wife of Stephen, Archbishop of York, Dr Bill Scott, CEO of an engineering company in Middlesbrough and Tom Ali, a former Metropolitan police detective.

“I was so honoured to be asked and I am determined that I will do my best to support Jo as the Lord Lieutenant to bring about closer links between the Lieutenancy and all the great people active in their communities across the county. Just last week when my appointment was announced, I was approached by a public sector colleague wanting DL help to recognise some very long standing volunteers. Having worked for 9 years at Two Ridings and seen the impact of volunteers on local charities, this approach really pleased me, and I hope it’s the first of many.”

Jan Garrill DL

Find out more about the North Yorkshire Lieutenancy