FOUR of seven new deputy lieutenants for the county announced this week are from north Norfolk.The deputies, whose appointment was approved by the Queen, join 33 others in Norfolk available to represent the Lord Lieutenant, Richard Jewson, at important events.

FOUR of seven new deputy lieutenants for the county announced this week are from north Norfolk.

The deputies, whose appointment was approved by the Queen, join 33 others in Norfolk available to represent the Lord Lieutenant, Richard Jewson, at important events.

Among local names is Richard Butler, from Swanton Abbott, whose private and professional life has benefited thousands of young people throughout Norfolk.

Mr Butler, 52, is county commissioner for Norfolk Scouts and operations manager for business and finance with the North Walsham-based Benjamin Foundation, which supports young people countywide.

A former national scouting commissioner, Mr Butler halted an 11-year decline in Norfolk scouting numbers when he took over the county post in 2001, and he has overseen an increase in membership from just over 6,500 to just under 8,000 today.

He axed 42 management posts and redeployed the holders “back to where the kids are”. He and his scouting team also raised £50,000 to fund a development project aimed at ensuring the movement's future.

“Scouting is about getting kids back outdoors, having fun. It's an uncluttered and unsophisticated as that,” said Mr Butler. “If you don't give kids the chance to take acceptable risks, they may try and take unacceptable ones.”

The Benjamin Foundation, which became a charity in 1994, now employs 70 staff and has an annual turnover of nearly £2m. Its services include hostels for young homeless people, pre and after-school clubs, a special needs youth club, a drop-in youth centre, and trained counsellors help over 100 young people each week.

Mr Butler is also chairman of the Red House Trust, a grant-giving charity in Norfolk, and a trustee of three other charities. A long-serving Rotarian, he currently belongs to the Rotary Club of Aylsham and holds the international movement's highest honour, a Paul Harris Fellowship, for his work in the community and beyond.

Mr Butler has served as a member of the lord chancellor's advisory committee on the appointment and training of JPs for nine years.

Adel MacNicol, who runs the Stody Estate, is also chairman of Premier Livestock Auctions in Somerset and a director of the Arnisdale Estate.

Mrs MacNicol was a former chairman of governors at Runton and Sutherland School and has been a governor of Gresham's School, Holt, since 1999.

She chaired the Holt area branch of Save the Children for over 20 years, has served on the parish councils and the parochial church councils of Stody and Hunworth, and is a director of the village rooms. She also runs Stody Lodge gardens, supporting Norfolk charities.

Stuart Holmes, chairman of the Overstrand Parish Council Shoreline Management Committee, retired as a senior partner in PriceWaterhouseCoopers Norwich, five years ago.

He is also chairman of UEA, and the Forum Trust, deputy chairman of the John Innes Centre, a trustee of the Great Hospital, and a director of University Campus Suffolk.

Richard Gurney, of Heggatt Hall, a chartered surveyor and land agent, is managing partner of a family farming business and chairman of Horstead Farming Group. The group has three retail outlets for produce from their own and surrounding farms.

He is chairman of the Friends of Norwich Museums, a management board member of the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind, a Freeman of Norwich, trustee of the Town Close Estate charity, vice chairman of the Red House Trust, a member of the Norfolk Rivers Internal Drainage Boards, and vice chairman of the General Commissioners of Income Tax for central Norfolk.

In the past Mr Gurney served as a JP and high sheriff of Norfolk. He is also a former county chairman of the Council for Small Industries in Rural Areas.

Other appointees are Lady Kay Fisher, of Kilverstone Hall, Thetford, health care consultant Sandy Sankar, from Stoke Holy Cross, and Peter Wilson, chief executive of Norwich Theatre Royal since 1992.