The Queen's representative in West Yorkshire appoints six new deputies from Leeds and across county

Ed Anderson, Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, has chosen six people from a wide cross section of society.

The six new deputies are Sharon Watson, Paul Lawrence, Kath Lindley, Sofia Buncy, Jenny Grainger, and Angela Monaghan.

Sharon Watson is the chief executive and principal of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

She was previously the seventh and longest-standing artistic director of Phoenix Dance Theatre.

Trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance, she was one of the first female principal dancers invited to join the all-male award winning Phoenix Dance Company, touring with the company from 1989 to 1997.

Former Leeds Grammar School student Paul Lawrence was joint managing director of Lawrence Scoffield Insurance Brokers and non executive director of Domus Domiciliary Care from 2009 to 2012.

In 2013 he set up Lawrence Fraser Insurance Brokers with its head office in Leeds.

His charity work has included Variety Children’s Charity in West Yorkshire and nationally.

Kath Lindley is chief executive officer of Wakefield and District Health and Community Support and a trustee of NOVA, the third sector infrastructure support organisation for Wakefield.

Sofia Buncy is co-founder and national coordinator of the multi-award-winning Muslim Women in Prison resettlement programme.

The programme is the first of its kind in the UK and is based at the Khidmat Centres in Bradford.

Jenny Grainger is director of marketing, communications and student recruitment at the University of Huddersfield.

Angela Monaghan is chairperson of the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which delivers mental health, learning disability, community, and wellbeing services to a population of 1.1m people across West and south Yorkshire.

She also chairs the board of trustees for the trust’s linked charities, which include EyUp!, Creative Minds, Spirit in Mind and the Mental Health Museum.

Before joining the trust, she was chief executive of Martin House children’s hospice in Boston Spa, Wetherby.

Mr Anderson said: "I am delighted with these diverse appointments and look forward to working with them all once lieutenancy engagements become more feasible."

Every county in the UK has a Lord-Lieutenant, who is appointed by the Queen to be her personal representative in the county.

Their duties include arranging Royal visits and presenting awards, including the British Empire Medal.

There are 68 deputy lieutenants across West Yorkshire.

The Lord-Lieutenant and deputies attend hundreds of events across West Yorkshire each year.

They laid 115 wreaths at Remembrance events across the county this year - more than any other lieutenancy in the country.