My father, John Deere, who has died aged 89, was the arts director of Nottingham county council for 20 years. A passionate advocate for the arts, he was appointed to the post in the council’s newly established leisure services department in 1975, following the national reorganisation of local authorities.
There, for 20 years, he transformed the artistic life of Nottinghamshire through development and funding of arts activities across the county. In the town of Retford, he supported the internationally famous Cantamus girls choir and, in Mansfield, the Mansfield Palace theatre.
