Sir Peter Vardy DL (born 4 March 1947) is an English businessman. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2009 ranking of the wealthiest people in the United Kingdom, he placed 388th with an estimated fortune of £140 million. Vardy attended the

Chorister School The Chorister School was a co-educational independent school for the 3 to 13 age range. It consisted of a Pre-School (opened in September 2008), a pre-preparatory and preparatory day and boarding school in Durham, England. It was set in an envia ...

in Durham (1956–1961) and

Durham School Durham School is an independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition located in Durham, North East England and was an all-boys institution until 1985, when girls were admitted to the sixth form. The school takes pupils a ...

Business interests

Vardy took control of the family's Ford car dealership in 1976 after the death of his father who had founded the business. He expanded the business from one dealership in the northeast of England with six staff, to a group of over one hundred dealerships with over 6,000 staff. Following the sale of Reg Vardy plc, the Vardy Group of Companies was launched in Durham, comprising the Vardy Property Group, led by his elder son Richard; and Peter Vardy Ltd, a new motor group established in Scotland and led by his other son, Peter Vardy Jnr

Awards and recognition

Vardy has been awarded several business and industry awards, as well as an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

in Business Administration (University of Sunderland, 1995) and an honorary Doctorate of Laws (Eastern University of Philadelphia, USA, 2009). He received a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

for services to education in the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's Birthday Honours List of 2001, as well being appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear in 2002 and the Freedom of the City of Sunderland in 2011.

Educational and philanthropic work

Vardy established a charity, The Vardy Foundation, in 1989, and has supported a range of education, rehabilitation and community causes in the United Kingdom and abroad. In 2015, both he and his wife, Lady Margaret Vardy, received the Beacon Award for Philanthropy for Impact and Dedication.

Emmanuel Schools Foundation

In 1989, Vardy responded to a request from the then education secretary Kenneth Baker and Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

to build one of the first

City Technology College In England, a City Technology College (CTC) is an urban all-ability specialist schoolWalter (2007), p. 6 for students aged 11 to 18 specialising in science, technology and mathematics. They charge no fees and are independent of local authority ...

s, which enlisted business people to work with educationists to raise educational standards in areas where educational standards were poor. He sponsored the building of

Emmanuel City Technology College Emmanuel College is a secondary school and sixth form college (years 7-13) based in Gateshead, England. It was founded in 1990 as a City Technology College, i.e. a secondary school which is partly funded by donations from business donors who r ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

, and subsequently under the

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

initiative sponsored a further three

Academies An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

: The King's Academy in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

(2003), Trinity Academy in Thorne,

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

(2005) and

Bede Academy Bede Academy is a 3–18 academy in Blyth, Northumberland, England. Opened in September 2009, it is run by the Emmanuel Schools Foundation. It was one of the first all-through academies to be set up in the United Kingdom, and the first ...

Blyth, Northumberland Blyth () is a town and civil parish in southeast Northumberland, England. It lies on the coast, to the south of the River Blyth and is approximately northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne. It has a population of about 37,000, as of 2011. The port o ...

which opened in September 2009. These four schools form the

Emmanuel Schools Foundation The Emmanuel Schools Foundation (ESF) is a charitable trust which has been involved in education since 1989. ESF currently run six schools. The four original members of the ESF are: Emmanuel City Technology College in Gateshead (opened 1990), Th ...

, a coalition of schools with a Christian ethos based in the north of England. All of the schools have received

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

ratings from "good" to "outstanding". In October 2010, Vardy transferred sponsorship of the schools to the

United Learning Trust United Learning is a group of state-funded schools and fee-paying independent schools operating in England. United Learning is the trading name for United Church Schools Trust (UCST) and United Learning Trust (ULT). It is one of the largest 10 ch ...

, another sponsor of academies who operate over thirty schools nationwide.

Other charitable activities

Vardy began to support people, who through alcohol and drug misuse or on leaving custodial sentences, found themselves homeless. The Vardy Foundation is partnering with Betel International who operate homes in 20 countries. The Foundation plans to support three centres in the northeast providing a home and meaningful work. The first opened in

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

in September 2011 and a women's house was planned for opening in 2017. He is a director in the Durham and Tees Valley Community Rehabilitation Company, which has set up a charity called ARCC, to support the probation service's work in the north east. After seeing the distress caused by the breakdown in families in the United Kingdom, Vardy visited Chicago in 2011 and was introduced to Dr Dave Anderson of Safe Families for Children, an established charity in the United States, which has helped reduce the number of children going into state care by almost 50%. He established Safe Families for Children in the United Kingdom in 2012, and by using volunteers has seen the charity develop throughout England working with 31 local authorities and seeing reductions of up to 17.5% in the first years of operation. He is also on the Board of Trustees of the

Sunderland A.F.C. Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six t ...

charity,

Foundation of Light The Foundation of Light (Previously called the ''SAFC Foundation'') is a Registered Charity in the United Kingdom, and is the independent charitable foundation of professional football club Sunderland A.F.C. It is the biggest football charity in ...

, after being a lifelong supporter of the team.

References

External links

Official websiteDurham and Tees Valley Community Rehabilitation CompanySafe Families UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vardy, Peter 1947 births Living people English businesspeople English Christians Knights Bachelor Deputy Lieutenants of Tyne and Wear People educated at Durham School British philanthropists People educated at the Chorister School, Durham