Dame Ann Geraldine Limb DBE DL FRSA (born 13 February 1953) is a British educationalist, business leader, charity chair and philanthropist. [1] [2] In September 2015, she became the first woman Chair of The Scout Association [2] since the organization was founded by Robert Baden Powell in 1907. [3] Limb also serves as the 789th High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, the first Quaker to hold this office. [4]
Limb was born in Moss Side, Manchester, the daughter of a butcher, [5] and studied at Marple Hall County Grammar School for Girls, now Marple Hall School, followed by the University of Liverpool. [1] She is a Fellow Commoner of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. [6] [7]
From 1976 until 2001, Limb had a career in further education. [8] In December 1987, aged 34, she was appointed Principal of Milton Keynes College, [9] at the time the youngest ever FE College Principal. After a decade, she moved to Cambridge Regional College, serving as Principal there until 2000. [8] She then took up the post as Chief Executive University for Industry, Ufi. [10]
From 2005 to 2011, Limb was the Chair of the Milton Keynes Partnership and a Ministerial appointee to the Board of Homes England. From 2011 to 2019, Limb was chair of the country's top performing LEP, South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP). [11] [9]
Between 2017 and 2023, Limb served as the independent business Chair of the UK Innovation Corridor. [12]
Limb is Chair of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival, [13] a multi-arts festival that engages people with music and sound in unusual spaces and places. The biennial festival, founded in 2010, runs for 10 days in July across central Milton Keynes.
Limb was a member of the Council of Arts Council England South East Regional Council between 2014 and 2021 and led the bid for Milton Keynes to be European Capital of Culture in 2023.
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In 1998 Limb founded the Helena Kennedy Foundation, a social mobility charity supporting access to higher education. [14] [15]
In July 2018, Limb made a major donation to Milton Keynes Gallery to enable the creation of the Limb Family Foyer in the newly extended gallery. [16]
In 2021 Limb set up the Limb Family Endowment Fund at the Stables Lane Dankworth Centre to engage the widest range of people in music and the arts, particularly giving access to the young, disabled, and people from economically and socially deprived backgrounds.
In 2022 Limb, together with Quakers from Milton Keynes, created the Woburn Sands (Hogsty End) Quaker Burial Ground. Limb made a significant donation to fund the standing stone hewn in Cumbrian slate designed and hand cut by Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley which features prominently in the Burial Ground. In February 2023, at his personal request, King Charles III made a private visit to Hogsty End Quaker Burial Ground to meet and thank the Quakers involved and to recognise the uniqueness of this heritage-led regeneration project.
As High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire 2023-4, Limb has set up with the help of the Milton Keynes Community Foundation, The Harmony Fund - a High Sheriff's Charitable Legacy Fund to take forward the work of The King's Foundation in Buckinghamshire.
In June 2021 Limb became a trustee of The King's Foundation and in September 2021 was appointed Vice Chair. [17]
In July 2022 Limb was appointed Chair of the Lloyds Bank Foundation. [18]
Limb is a member of the WorldSkills UK's Skills taskforce for global Britain, [19] Chair of the City & Guilds Group's City and Guilds of London Institute, [20] Chair of the Lifelong Education Institute, part of Res Publica, [21] Chair of the Board of Governors of The Manchester College, and a board member of the LTE Group. [22]
From 2016 to 2020 Limb served as Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Deputy Chairman of the General Committee, of her London club, the Athenaeum. She subsequently became Chairman of the General Committee, a post she still holds. [23]
Already Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Limb was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to young people and philanthropy. [24] [25] [26] [27]
Her academic honours include: Fellow Chartered Institution for Further Education, [28] Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts FRSA, [29] Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute (FCGI), [30] Inaugural Fellow of Milton Keynes College, [31] and Honorary Doctorates from Anglia Ruskin University, [32] [33] University of Bedfordshire, [34] [35] Open University, [36] Manchester Metropolitan University, [37] University of Northampton, [38] Sheffield Hallam University, [39] [40] and University of West London. [41] She is a fellow-commoner of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. [42]
In 2019, Limb was named in the Northern Power Women 2019 Power List as an inspiring role model and agent of change, rooted in the North of England. [42] [43] In the same year she was also celebrated as #1 LGBTQ+ public sector role model on the 2019 "OUTstanding LGBT+ Role Model Lists", supported by Yahoo Finance and published annually by diversity charity INvolve. [44] [45]
Upon taking up her role as Chair of the Scouts in 2015, Limb was interviewed by Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour . [46] She subsequently appeared as a guest on Radio 4's Great Lives nominating George Fox, founder of Quakerism. [47] In December 2023, Limb appeared on BBC2's popular quiz programme, hosted by Amol Rajan, the Christmas University Challenge as part of the University of Liverpool alumni team. [48]
Having entered into a civil partnership on 21 December 2006, Limb married her partner Dr. Margaret Cook, with whom she has shared her life since 1991, on 11 May 2019 [49] and lives with her in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. [50]
Buckinghamshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the east, Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, and Oxfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Milton Keynes, and the county town is Aylesbury.
Milton Keynes is a city in Buckinghamshire, England, about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms the northern boundary of the urban area; a tributary, the River Ouzel, meanders through its linear parks and balancing lakes. Approximately 25% of the urban area is parkland or woodland and includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
The City of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area with both borough and city status, in Buckinghamshire. It is the northernmost district of the South East England Region. The borough abuts Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the remainder of Buckinghamshire.
Olney is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 6,477.
Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws,, is a Scottish barrister, broadcaster, and Labour member of the House of Lords. She was Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, from 2011 to 2018. A Bencher of Gray's Inn, an Honorary Writer to the Signet and the recipient of 42 Honorary Degrees from many universities including those of Glasgow and Edinburgh in recognition of work on women and the law and on widening participation in higher education. She is President of Justice, the law reform think tank and currently is director of the International Bar Association's Institute of Human Rights.
Milton Keynes North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2019 United Kingdom general election by Ben Everitt, a Conservative.
The University of Bedfordshire is a public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The University has roots in further and higher education from 1882: it gained university status in 1993 as the University of Luton. The University changed its name to the University of Bedfordshire in 2006, following the merger of the University of Luton with the Bedford campus of De Montfort University.
Milton Keynes University Hospital is a district general hospital serving the City of Milton Keynes and the surrounding area of Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire. It is located in the Eaglestone neighbourhood, and opened in 1984. It is managed by Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital has an association with the University of Buckingham Medical School.
This history of Milton Keynes details its development from the earliest human settlements, through the plans for a 'new city' for 250,000 people in northern Southeast England, its subsequent urban design and development, to the present day. Milton Keynes, founded in 1967, is the largest settlement and only city in Buckinghamshire. At the 2021 census, the population of its urban area was estimated to have exceeded 256,000.
Milton Keynes City Council is the local authority of the City of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It has both borough status and city status. The borough, which extend beyond the ONS-defined Milton Keynes urban area and encompasses a substantial rural component, is divided into 19 wards, electing 57 councillors.
Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, is the Local Authority Fire Service serving the English unitary authorities of Buckinghamshire and the City of Milton Keynes.
Lucy Worsley is a British historian, author, curator and television presenter. She is joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces but is best known as a presenter of BBC Television and Channel 5 series on historical topics.
Dame Clare Lucy Marx was a British surgeon who was president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England from July 2014 to July 2017, the first woman to hold the position, and former chair of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. From January 2019 until July 2021, Dame Clare was chair of the General Medical Council, the first woman appointed to that role.
Dame Madeleine Julia Atkins, is a British academic administrator, scholar of education, and former teacher. Since 2018, she has served as the 9th President of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. She was formerly vice-chancellor of Coventry University, and the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (2014–2018).
The Aylesbury Vale is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the City of Milton Keynes and West Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum (Hertfordshire) to the east, the Chiltern Hills to the south and South Oxfordshire to the west. It is named after Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire. Winslow and Buckingham are among the larger towns in the vale.
Dame Julie Ann Kenny is the interim chair of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and Chair of Trustees of the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust.
Benjamin William Everitt is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Milton Keynes North since the 2019 general election.
The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January and those for 2022 were announced on 31 December 2021.
The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January and those for 2023 were announced on 30 December 2022.
The list also recognises the first female and gay chairwoman of the Scouts, who is made a dame for services to young people and philanthropy. Ann Limb said it was of 'huge' importance that young people saw leaders from LGBTQ+ communities.