Billericay man becomes Essex Deputy Lieutenant

Six new Deputy Lieutenants for the County of Essex have been appointed by Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant, Mrs Jennifer Tolhurst.

The role of the Deputy Lieutenant is to assist the Lord-Lieutenant in her first and foremost duty, which is to uphold the dignity of the Crown and of assisting the Reserve Forces and Cadets Association and Pre-Service organisations.

Mrs Tolhurst said

“I am delighted to be able to make these appointments.  The individuals concerned have made a great contribution to the County and fully deserve the recognition they have received.”

One new Deputy Lieutenants is:

Professor Michael Almond QVRM, from Billericay

Michael (Mike) Almond is Professor of Veterans & Families Studies at the Veterans & Families Research Hub.  The Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) sponsor Anglia Ruskin University to run the Hub to carry out research.  Ongoing projects include translating the findings of recent research commissioned by FiMT into plain language, insights that can be practically applied and understood by organisations that support veterans and their families.

Mike has also been a Reservist since 1977. His most recent deployment in 2018 was to South Sudan supporting the United Nations’ mission there.  He has three current reservist roles. The first is with SO1 Med Reserves, which is designed to support the policy, manning and deployment of the RAF Reserves medical component.  The second is a consultant at RAF Henlow in the Aviation Medical Clinical Service, seeing aircrew with medical problems with the aim to keep them flying.  And finally, supporting the RAF Aeromedical Service of TMW (Tactical Medical Wing) at RAF Brize Norton.