Our patrons

Sir Henry served as Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire for 14 years. He is the grandson of Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Bt who held the same position from 1954 to 1961. He was knighted as KCVO in the 2019 Birthday Honours.

Clarissa was Chief Executive of Dogs Trust for 25 years. Mrs Baldwin became a Patron for the charity in August 2014, having been a long-standing Trustee and then Life Vice-President. In September 2014, Mrs Baldwin retired from her role of Chief Executive at the Dogs Trust.

Dogs Trust was asked to find the first dog to be trained as a hearing dog. Favour was selected from a small band of "rescue" dogs. Clarissa has a son and two stepdaughters and is the occasional mum to Freddie, a Jack Russell Terrier.

Dame Susan has been Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire since 2005.

The Burton Agnes Hall estate in the East Riding of Yorkshire has been in the same family since it was built in 1598, and as part of her guardianship of this historic estate, Susan Cunliffe-Lister has transformed the Hall’s grounds into a thriving visitor attraction.

In 2001 she was voted Country Life magazine’s Gardener of the Year, and, in 2005, the walled garden which she created won the Historic Houses Association/Christies Garden of the Year award. In the New Year's Honours List 2019, HM The Queen appointed Susan Cunliffe-Lister to the Royal Victorian Order as a Dame Commander.

Since the 1960s, Greg has had a long career in the United Kingdom in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am. In the 1990s, he held Chief Executive positions at LWT Group, Pearson Television and Channel 5. 

He was Director-General of the BBC from January 2000 until 29 January 2004 and he is the Chairman of children's television company HiT Entertainment and has been Chancellor of the University of York since 2004. Greg’s niece, Sue, is the recipient of hearing dog Jasmine.

TV presenter and adventurer, Ben Fogle is the son of the Charity’s co-founder, Dr Bruce Fogle. Ben found fame in 2000 when he participated in the TV show Castaway, he has gone on to present numerous TV programmes which have taken him on many adventures around the world. He shares the same passion for animals as his father and fronted the Charity’s “Deafness doesn’t have to be lonely” campaign during Deaf Awareness Week.

Having been President of the Charity from 2005 to July 2016, and now a Patron of the charity, Sir Richard takes an active involvement in promoting the work of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People at high-profile events. Sir Richard is a retired senior Royal Air Force commander. After his retirement from the RAF, Sir Richard was appointed Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle.

Terry Miller served as General Counsel of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Before that, Terry spent seventeen years at Goldman Sachs, where she was a partner and International General Counsel. She began her career with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2006, 

Terry was selected as Legal Week's General Counsel of the Year, and in 2013 she was selected as Legal Business Lawyer of the Year. Terry is a non-executive director of Galliford Try Plc, Goldman Sachs International Bank, and the British Olympic Association. She is a trustee of the Invictus Games Foundation as well as several other charitable organisations. Terry was awarded an OBE for services to the London 2012 Games in the 2013 New Year's Honours List.

Dame Mary is the entrepreneurial founder and board member of Specsavers and a leading figure in optometry and audiology. A qualified and registered optometrist for more than 45 years, Dame Mary plays an active role in the business in several areas, including driving customer service standards, championing values and shaping corporate responsibility. 

Dame Mary is passionately involved with several national and international charities and was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2007.

Ben Shuckburgh is the grandson of co-founder Lady Beatrice Wright and son of former chairman, and now Life Vice president, Faith Clark. He has had a wide-ranging career including film production, computer software production, investment fund management and more recently managing director of a company that specialises in the preparation and restoration of historic cars.

Sir John Spurling was the founder of Pet Protect and is currently Director of Pet Partners Ltd. and a former trustee of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. His Charitable interests include Directorships of the London Marathon Ltd, Outward Bound Trust and the Kennel Club Charitable Trust, he is also Honorary Treasurer of the Animal Health Trust.

He is a member of The Order of The British Empire. He is a member of The Lords Taverners and The Saints & Sinners Club of London. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 2012.