A FORMER Army officer and health chief has been appointed as Vice Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire.

Brigadier John Wardle’s appointment follows the retirement from the role earlier this month of Colonel Edward York.

Brig Wardle, formerly of the Coldstream Guards, was previously chairman of Northallerton Health Services NHS Trust and later NHS North Yorkshire and York.

He currently chairs the Advisory Council and Management Board of the NHS Staff College which he co-founded with Professor Aidan Halligan, formerly a Deputy Medical Director of England.