Susan has recently retired her Commission and The Lord-Lieutenant would like to thank her for her dedication in serving the communities of Greater Manchester for several decades including serving as a Deputy Lieutenant for over 15 years.
Susan was born in 1948 in Uxbridge, Middlesex. Although originally from the South of England, she has lived ‘up North’ for 39 years, residing in Trafford for 33 years.
After leaving school she worked as a secretary, but later undertook further education in Sales and Marketing and was employed by Unilever and Grand Metropolitan Hotels. Having received an offer of marriage at the age of 24, she joined BOAC as a stewardess, to see the world before saying ‘yes’.
When she first moved to Trafford with young children, she and her late husband were involved with Christ Church, Timperley, writing, producing and choreographing pantomimes, and being involved in other social functions to raise funds for the church.
Since 1993 Susan has served as a magistrate on Trafford Bench, during which time she has taken on the responsibilities of Chairman of Trafford Licensing, Betting and Gaming Committee, Chairman of the Selection Panel, appointing magistrate members to the Greater Manchester Police Authority, Chairman of Trafford Bench for three years, Chairman of the Magistrates’ Area Training Committee, responsible for the training of 1800 magistrates on the ten benches across Greater Manchester for 2005 and 2006.
During her time as a magistrate she has given many talks in schools and for local organisations on the work of the magistracy. Her late husband Mike, spent his retirement, following a career as a BBC producer and comedy script writer, lecturing on cruise ships all over the world about the ‘Golden age of Comedy’ and when accompanying him Susan often gave talks about the role of magistrates.
Susan sits on the committees of ‘Variety the Children’s Charity’, ‘The Royal Society of St. George’, ‘Manchester Rotary’, and is President of Sale (318) Squadron Air Cadets. She also gives many talks for charity entitled ‘Look Back with Laughter’.
Susan was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant in 2007. She sat on the Honour’s Committee and regularly gave talks to community groups about the role of Deputy Lieutenant, the Honour’s System and the Queen’s and King’s Awards. Susan also represented the Lord-Lieutenant on many occasions and was a Queen’s/King’s Award for Voluntary Service Assessor.
Thank you Susan from everyone at the Greater Manchester Lieutenancy.