Former printing trade unionist Brenda Dean, now Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, is to be president of The Printing Charity in 2017.
“Once printing is in your blood, it never leaves you. I am looking forward to continuing my association with what is still a great industry as the charity’s 2017 president and supporting the annual Print Futures Awards,” she said.
Baroness Dean, one time general secretary of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (Sogat), was created a life peer in 1993 and a member of the Privy Council in 1998. At the charity’s recent annual luncheon, where Dean’s appointment was announced, 2016 president Lord Blunkett affectionately referred to her “the Vera Lynn of the printing industry”.
Jon Wright, The Printing Charity’s chairman, described this year as one of positive change for the charity. New chief executive, Neil Lovell, has refocused the charity’s activities, concentrating on welfare and education. The charity has already helped over 1,230 people so far this year, more than the total for 2015. Looking to the future, the charity will be developing its welfare programme and supporting more initiatives to help people working in or wanting to join the industry.