Local leaders given honour of royal appointment
A leisure services champion and a medical director are among a group of community leaders to be bestowed a royal honour.
Dr Derrick Anderson and Dr Lucy Martin are among nine people who have been appointed as Deputy Lieutenants for the West Midlands ahead of the coronation of King Charles III.
The Lord-Lieutenant of the West Midlands, Sir John Crabtree OBE, has announced the appointment of the nine new Deputy Lieutenants for the West Midlands whose backgrounds range from sport and social history, to health, business and tackling accessibility and inclusion.
Each of the nine individuals has already contributed significantly to either national life, to their local communities and bring the total of Deputy-Lieutenants in the West Midlands to 68.
Dr Anderson has a long history of working in the public sector and came to Wolverhampton in 1991 to work as director of leisure services at Wolverhampton Council.
He became chief executive in 1996 and then moved to be chief executive at the London borough of Lambeth in 2006, stepping down in 2014.
He was a non-executive director of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and he is a founding trustee of the Commonwealth Games Legacy Trust 2022.
He is also an independent member of the Strategic Boards of the World Blind Games 2023 and is a director of Wave Trust and was awarded a CBE in 2003 for services to local government.
Dr Martin is a GP principal and trainer and is acting joint medical director at Dudley Integrated Health & Care NHS Trust.
Previously, she was a physician and then medical director at Mary Stevens Hospice and was clinical lead end of life care and cancer Macmillan GP facilitator.
Dr Martin has played a key leadership role in research within Mary Stevens Hospice and subsequently with Dudley Integrated Health & Care.
They, alongside other appointees such as Professor Carl Chinn and David Moorcroft, will support the Lord-Lieutenant, His Majesty’s personal representative in the West Midlands, in several ways.
These include attending on royalty during official visits to the region, representation at citizenship ceremonies, supporting the armed forces of the Crown, particularly the reserve and cadet forces, and encouraging charitable and voluntary work and local initiatives to benefit the community.
They will also promote and encourage nominations for honours and the King’s Awards for the county of the West Midlands.
Sir John said the nine appointments coincide with the start of King Charles III’s reign and come at an exciting time for the West Midlands region as it builds its position on the national and world stage, following last year’s highly successful Commonwealth Games.
He said: "The West Midlands Lieutenancy is committed to supporting and representing every community in the county.
"As the second largest lieutenancy in England and Wales and home to nearly three million residents, the enthusiasm and additional reach of these excellent new Deputy Lieutenants will complement the great work of my existing team and I look forward to working with them."
