New Deputy Lieutenants will help forge close links with community

The wife of the Archbishop of York, a former detective with the Metropolitan Police, a leading charity and voluntary sector advocate and a renowned business expert are the latest eclectic figures to join the ranks of North Yorkshire’s Deputy Lieutenants.

The Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Jo Ropner, has announced four new appointments to act alongside her and help develop close links with the community.

Among the four new Deputy Lieutenants are Rebecca Cottrell, the wife of the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and Shafquat “Tom” Ali, who served for more than 30 years as a detective with the Metropolitan Police and the National Crime Squad.

Jan Garrill, the chief executive of the Two Ridings Community Foundation, and Dr Bill Scott OBE, the chief executive of the Wilton Universal Group, which is a successful Middlesbrough-based engineering company, have also been appointed.

Mrs Ropner, who has been the monarch’s representative 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 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.”

Mrs Cottrell, who was born in Harrogate and grew up in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, trained as a potter more than 40 years ago and has been making and selling pots and teaching ceramics ever since.

She has also worked in schools supporting children with learning difficulties, and is married to the Archbishop of York, and the couple have three adult children, a grandson and a dog.

Mrs Cottrell supports her husband’s ministry across the Diocese of York and has been a member of the organising group of two Lambeth Conferences, the worldwide gatherings of Anglican bishops and their spouses, which are held every decade.

Mr Ali led complex investigations into serious and organised crime, corruption and homicide as well as sensitive inquiries in both the UK and abroad.

His work has taken him from investigating major crime gangs on the streets of London to hostile locations in Libya.

Having retired as a Detective Chief Inspector, Mr Ali has continued to assist the Metropolitan Police in a consultancy role as well as undertaking inquiries for other police services such as the Police Service of Northern Ireland to re-investigate paramilitary murders.

Mr Ali has also assisted the British Overseas Territory of Turks and Caicos, following a spike in organised crime-related homicides.

He lives close to Ripon with his wife, Sarah, and their three children. Mr Ali is a keen runner and enjoys training his three dogs.

Ms Garrill grew up in Sheffield, and studied for a degree in history from the University of York and a masters degree in marketing at Northumbria University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Her career has spanned the public and private sectors and she moved back to Yorkshire in 2014 to become the chief executive of the Two Ridings Community Foundation, the community foundation for North and East Yorkshire.

Ms Garrill is a trustee of the Henry Smith Charity, which was founded by a London businessman in 1628 and is one of the UK’s largest independent grant-making organisations, as well as a trustee of the Yorkshire Funders, a charity supporting the grant-making trusts and foundations in Yorkshire.

She is a director of the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership as well as the chair of the board of Better Connect, a North Yorkshire-based not-for-profit company delivering partnership programmes to support small and medium-sized enterprises and charities.

She is also a volunteer at her local community-owned and operated shop, Barkers of Huby, and a fellow of Langwith College at the University of York.

Ms Garrill is married with two children and three stepchildren and lives near Easingwold in North Yorkshire.

Dr Scott is a keen advocate of supporting the UK’s supply chain and works closely with trade organisations as well as the Government.

He is also involved in several other companies to support them to grow whilst utilising his experience as an advisor, a chief executive officer and a chairman.

Dr Scott is passionate about engineering, creating opportunities for apprentices, equal rights for women, workplace health and safety and supporting local charities.

Among his biggest interests is inspiring the next generation and he engages with schools, colleges and universities.

Dr Scott was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to engineering, services to the offshore wind sector and services to the community on Teesside.

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 38 Deputy Lieutenants across the North Yorkshire Lieutenancy’s area, who 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.