John W Senior MBE TD DR (Hc) founded Heroes Welcome UK in 2008. The aim of the initiative is to give a warm Scarborough welcome and a little quiet acknowledgment to members of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces who are doing a difficult job in dangerous circumstances.
In 2008 further to a series of negative national press stories relating to soldiers being discriminated against for wearing their uniforms in public, John placed a handmade poster in one of his restaurant’s windows declaring that All Heroes were indeed welcome in Scarborough.
The idea took hold and with the help of the Mayor, a small group of Civic Officers and the Local newspaper (Scarborough Evening News) a Heroes Welcome website and Logo were created and by 2012 over 50 Towns Cities and Counties across the UK had joined up to what is simply a free scheme to encourage local communities and businesses to offer a special warm welcome to serving members of the Armed Forces and their families.
John joined the Territorial Army in 1979 serving with the Yorkshire Volunteers and latterly, 4th/5th Battalions, The Green Howards. In December 2001 he was the first TA Officer to be deployed into Afghanistan serving as a Major (SO2 OPs) with 16 UK Air Assault Brigade HQ, he was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 2005.
John W Senior TD, the Founder of Heroes Welcome UK was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 New Years Honours List “For services to the Community in Scarborough and to the Armed Forces through Heroes Welcome.”
