This year’s New Year’s Honour’s list features the great and the good from across the region including many who have been recognised for their work during the pandemic
Among those honoured are Bolton, husband and wife team Christine and David Bagley who receive MBE’s for services to the community particularly during Covid-19
working to improve the lives of the homeless and most disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals in Bolton.
They founded Urban Outreach in 1990 greatly improving thousands of lives in the local area.
Last year they helped over 16,000 people: this included 6,000 children who were fed over the summer holidays (who would otherwise have free school meals); during ‘Christmas Dinner on Jesus’ over 1,200 families received food hampers; Winterwatch prepares over 2,200 meals for the homeless; amongst many other initiatives.
When the lockdown was announced, they immediately responded by establishing and leading Bolton’s Humanitarian Food Hub. Due to their vital work, over 36,000 people have been fed since lockdown.
Peter Barnham from Saddleworth also receives an MBE
Since 2009, Peter has managed, as Secretary and now Chair, the UK’s Seabed User and Developer Group (SUDG) – an umbrella group of all the major UK marine industries.
His insights and pragmatism have led to innovative and constructive engagement and his contribution has been to look for real environmental improvements.
While at Associated British Ports, two major port projects on the Humber Estuary were planned which would damage protected habitats. His initiative and persistence secured a ground-breaking legal agreement enabling the developments to proceed whilst creating important wildlife habitats.
Dr Harnovdeep Singh from Bolton also receives the MBE for services to People with Diabetes in the South Asian Community
He works in his own time to develop and deliver services for disadvantaged and socially-isolated groups in order to provide better access to health and education.
He developed the South Asian Lay Educator role, the first of its kind in the country, to address issues with language and different health care beliefs in these communities.
Another MBE goes to Dr Amir Simon Hannan from Hale Barns described as an He is an exceptional GP who, fresh from completing his training in 2000, was faced with the challenge of taking over Harold Shipman’s surgery in Hyde, Manchester directly following his arrest.
He has transformed the practice and achieved national recognition for pioneering work on patient record access and understanding. Dr Hannan remains a full-time GP at the same Hyde Practice which has now expanded to two sites and is known as the Haughton Thornley Medical Centres. The practice is in the top 5% of those rated as outstanding by the Care Quality Commission and its patient participation group was voted as the best in the UK in 2016.
Dr Heather Ann Williams from Cheadle Hulme, Nuclear Medicine Services at the Christie Hospital.
In 2013 she founded ScienceGrrl, a not-for-profit initiative to encourage girls and women into science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers. The initiative also supports and celebrates women already working in STEM fields.
The project began with the creation of the ScienceGrrl calendar, which depicted the work of female scientists from a wide range of backgrounds.
Since then, the project has grown into a network of over 25,000 science enthusiasts, educators and influencers; all dedicated to widening participation in STEM.
Wendy Clapham from Oldham receives the BEM
She is the senior nurse directly responsible for the critical care response to COVID-19 at the Royal Oldham Hospital who ensured a hundred non-ICU nurses received training and were embedded into the nursing team to drastically increase the number of patients cared for.
Catherine Fitzsimmons from Eccles also receives the BEM
She has been the partnership quality lead at Macmillan UK for the past year supporting patients, staff and services in the delivery of cancer support across localities and has been instrumental in many innovative service developments, including the first one stop shop service for breast care in 2005 at Salford Royal.
Ricky Sercombe from Whitworth,receives the MBE for services to Vulnerable People during the Covid-19 Response
He has been at the heart of delivering the government scheme to provide 450,000 food parcels a week to Clinically Extremely Vulnerable individuals during the COVID-19 crisis.
His role was to provide the underlying data flow that had the effect of ensuring this acutely vulnerable group never faced the decision to leave home or starve by providing emergency food within days.
Among the more famous faces to receive recognition is Coronation Street star Sally Dynevor, who is made an MBE for services to drama.
This year’s list is the most ethnically diverse, with 14.2 per cent of those who received honours being from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds.
