Aroundtown Magazine Winter 2022 edition

Aroundtown MEETS
“I get asked all the time how
much money I made from it. And
the answer is one pound. Katherine
and I and others involved all sold
our intellectual property rights for
£1 so that every hospital in the UK
can use it for free. If trusts must use
their budgets to pay for it, then it
defeats the object.”
The accolades Dame Hilary has
earned for her dedication to nursing
means she now has many letters
after her name. She went on to
achieve her nursing degree and
master’s, was given an honorary
doctorate by the University of
Sheffield, was made a professor
at Sheffield Hallam University,
and a fellow at the Royal College
of Nursing. For her services to
nursing, she was first awarded a
CBE before being made a dame in
the 2018 honours.
“When I became a Sister on ICU
I think my parents nearly burst. I felt
guilty when I was awarded the CBE
but my mum didn’t. She used to
meet up with all the retired teachers
from our school and I remember
when she told my old RE teacher
she said, ‘Fancy that from little
Hilary Brown.’
“Sadly, Mum didn’t get to see me
get the damehood but, because
she was so poorly and we knew
she wouldn’t make it, I was allowed
to tell her before it was officially
announced.”
Wherever she may be, I’m
sure she’ll be looking down on
her daughter and beaming with
pride as she dons her uniform and
represents the Queen. After years
of campaigning from the Lord-
Lieutenants, this is the first year
that women have been allowed
to wear a uniform like their male
counterparts.
“To prepare, I was given a
one-and-a-half-hour lesson with a
regimental sergeant major about
how the uniform should be worn,
how to stand, and how to salute.”
Her first month in the role was
full of events, from being invited
to Barnsley College’s graduation
ceremony to officially unveiling
the Covid memorial in Barnsley
alongside former Archbishop of
York, Lord Bishop John Sentamu.
“The Lord-Lieutenancy role
comes with lots of rules, regulations
and precedence. As Her Majesty’s
representative, it is my duty to
do as the Queen would do or
walk out at ceremonies in the
order she would. One of my first
official events in uniform was
the Remembrance Day parade
in Barnsley. It was an honour to
“
As Her Majesty’s representative,
it is my duty to do as the Queen would
do or walk out at ceremonies in the
order she would. One of my first official
events in uniform was the Remembrance
Day parade in Barnsley
”
be surrounded by so many of
the town’s veterans and military
community and to lay the first
wreath at the cenotaph. I obviously
can’t attend all four regions at
11am on the same day, so I
will rotate between Barnsley,
Rotherham, Doncaster and
Sheffield each Remembrance
Sunday.”
As well as being a dignitary at
ceremonies, Dame Hilary’s role
will also see her give out honours
and awards to South Yorkshire
people and businesses on behalf
of the sovereign, such as the British
Empire Medal, the Queen’s Awards
for Enterprise or Voluntary Service,
Citizenship ceremonies, and attend
Freedom of the Borough events.
In November, Dame Hilary
proudly presented two South
Yorkshire based businesses with
the prestigious Queen’s Award for
Enterprise, both of whom stipulated
the awards be given at their
respective shops or factories.
The Community Shop in
Athersley, part of Tankersley’s
Company Group, was presented
with the award for Promoting
Opportunity in recognition of
its social impact to break longterm
dependence on food aid
through life-changing training and
development programmes.
Dame Hilary then presented
SJM Alloys and Metals with the
International Trade award at their
Rotherham factory for the shortterm
growth they have seen in
global sales of recycled alloys and
steels, with clients in Japan, USA
and Europe.
This year, Dame Hilary will
award some of the Queen’s New
Year honours to South Yorkshire
recipients, including the British
Empire Medal to 11-year-old Paces
School pupil ‘Captain’ Tobias Weller
from Sheffield who raised over
£150,000 for his school and The
Children’s Hospital Charity and is
the youngest person on record to
be awarded an honour.
“This role is so varied and I can’t
wait to meet more people who do
amazing things. The people who
deserve the honours are often
those who never come forward;
they hide their light under a bushel.
When you start to dig and poke
your nose in, you get to know all
about those people who have
maybe gone unnoticed.”
With such a large county to
cover, Dame Hilary is supported
by a Vice Lord-Lieutenant and
42 deputies who come from all
walks of life, from the military and
police to retail and industry. You
are invited to be a deputy and
ultimately, Dame Hilary will be on
the lookout for more people to ask
to take on the role, as she was
back in 2016.
“Often the best Deputy
Lieutenants are the busiest people.
They’re those who are already out
there in the community. In South
Yorkshire, with credit to Andrew, we
have a mix of genders, faiths and
races to reflect our communities.
We make a conscious effort to look
at the Census across the boroughs
and identify our different cultures
and communities.”
While the deputies are split
across the four regions of South
Yorkshire, Dame Hilary’s HQ is
at Barnsley in the iconic town
hall building. She is assisted by
a very capable team including
the Vice Lord-Lieutenant John
Holt, Lieutenancy Officer Phil
Barraclough, her PA Alison and
at home, her husband Neil who
was the finance director at Leeds
Teaching Hospitals.
“The support I’ve received from
Barnsley Council has been secondto-none
and I have to pinch myself
sometimes how lucky I am to work
in such a magnificent building.
The team has been wonderfully
supportive and although she’s
new to the role, Alison who has
had a great handover from her
predecessor, Lorraine, has taken
to it brilliantly and is the one who
makes it all happen.
“And of course, I wouldn’t be
here without my husband making
me stop and think. He was more
excited than me about it and
even went and bought a whole
new wardrobe from Frank Bird
down on Eldon Street for all these
new occasions.”
We’d like to wish Dame Hilary
the very best of luck in her
new role and look forward to
sharing her journey with
Aroundtown readers.
6 aroundtownmagazine.co.uk