A Stockport Community volunteer, a Bolton JP and a Manchester fire fighter are amongst locals honoured by the Queen in the New Year’s honours list as well as two former Manchester footballers and the sister of Gary and Phil Neville.
Seventy year old Adrian Botham from Stockport Chairman, Pantonic All Stars Steel Orchestra and Community Volunteer has received a BEM for services to Education.
For over two decades he has been a key figure in organising and running the Pantonic All Stars Steel Orchestra, formed in the mid-1980s to raise funds for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Bone Marrow Trust Fund. He was asked to take over as chairman in 1990. He worked closely with local companies to ensure the orchestra received donations of new equipment and a bus for its transport needs.
The orchestra has made appearances on TV and at the Festival of Youth at the Royal Albert Hall. He has made sure the Orchestra is open to all young people in the local community and has encouraged those not naturally linked to Jamaican ethnic music to join. He has also extended the Orchestra to have both a senior and junior band to widen its appeal. In recent years he has extended its fundraising to help a wider list of charities including Cancer Research UK and the local Christmas Toy Appeal. The band now has an excellent reputation both in the UK and abroad. Additionally, he has helped to raise nearly £50,000 for the Bone Marrow Trust Fund.
Paul Chidley aged 73 from Didsbury, the Chair of Governors, The Barlow RC High School and Specialist Science College, Manchester has received the BEM for services to Education.
He has been an inspirational figure in education in Manchester for over 50 years, most recently as the chair of governors at The Barlow RC High School. Following a satisfactory report by Ofsted and the resignation of the chair of governors, the governing body turned to him due to his knowledge of education and commitment to the school, and he was elected chair in 2011.
He immediately led a review of the governing body, identifying skills gaps and areas for improvement. He was aware that the school had a reputation for underperforming and that acquiring the high-calibre governors that the school needed would be a challenge. The new governors have enhanced the strategic vision for the school and supported curriculum innovation in science and technology. Under his chairmanship, the school has gone from strength to strength and in 2012, Ofsted rated the school as good. He has also played a significant role in recruiting and retaining the best quality teachers in Manchester. He is also involved in scouting, providing guidance and leadership to the 2/241st Manchester Scout Group for many years.
Twenty nine year old Jody Green from Stretford, a Mentor, Community Led Initiatives has received the BEM for services to the Resettlement of Ex-Offenders
She mentors ex-offenders who are struggling with life after prison. She saw in her youth, in London, the effects of crime on others both as victims and perpetrators and decided she wanted to do something about it. She has worked successfully with a wide range of people and built up relationships with gang members from Manchester who had been involved with firearms and drug dealing from a very young age.
She is masterful in challenging destructive attitudes shown by her mentees and rewarding them with positive reinforcement when they demonstrate pro-social behaviour and thinking. Mentoring ex-offenders is vitally important in their rebuilding of their lives as well as protecting their potential future victims by reducing reoffending. She has had equal success with women and runs a weekly group from Tameside Women’s Centre which is designed to rebuild the confidence and self esteem of female victims of domestic violence. Her ability to build trust and rapport quickly is vital in ensuring women with complex needs have the confidence to engage with support services.
Meanwhile fifty three year old David Lenegan from Northenden has received the MBE for services to Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and the Children’s Burns Foundation.
He is a full time firefighter at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. He was key to starting the UK’s first ever children’s burns camp which transforms the lives of hundreds of children helping them to come to terms with being burnt and scarred for life. He held the first camp in 1998 and currently 150 children a year are a given a chance to spend time with peers who know what they’re going through.
The camps encourage children and young people to take part in physical activities which boosts their confidence and aids their physical recovery. The camps are so effective that the model has been taken on by NHS trusts and the Fellow of the Royal Society across the UK. He was key to setting up the Children’s Burns Foundation (CBF) which helped secure the financial future of the burns camps. The charity has raised almost £200,000 to support research and children who have suffered burns injuries. His dedication to young burns victims has had an immeasurable impact on their lives, giving hope, ambition and kinship, much needed to lead successful lives.
MRS Gillian Platt a seventy two year old JP from Bolton received the MBE for services to Floral Art and the community in Bolton
She has served her community in various roles both locally and nationally for over 30 years. She was also responsible for the training of other JPs and often put herself out to give extra time to those in training. Since 1968 she has been flowering arranging and has taught groups of people who have special needs and disabilities to produce stunning displays.
As an experienced flower arranger she has had her work displayed in Westminster Abbey on several occasions, providing the flowers for the Queen Mother’s funeral and the 60th anniversary of The Queen’s Anniversary Celebrations. She also uses her skills to raise money for various charities by auctioning off many of her displays. More recently she has started opening her house each month to groups from nearby old people’s homes to improve their quality of life and social interaction. She has a natural ability to make what others might consider to be a trivial pastime and turn it into great pleasure for others and to raise money for charity.
Among the well-known names being honoured there is a Companion of Honour to Sir Roy Strong for his outstanding contribution to UK cultural life; a knighthood for champion jump jockey, AP McCoy; a knighthood for former television journalist, Martyn Lewis, for his service to the voluntary and charitable sector; a knighthood for the choreographer, Matthew Bourne; a CBE for Denis Law for services to football and to charity; a CBE for Francis Lee for services to football and to charity; an OBE for sports commentator, Sue Barker; an OBE for singer-songwriter, Damon Albarn; an OBE for actor, James Nesbitt; an OBE for actor, David Oyelowo; an OBE for actor, Idris Elba; an OBE for cyclist, Chris Froome; an OBE for snooker player, Ronnie O’Sullivan; and an MBE to sports broadcaster, Jacqui Oatley.
There is an MBE for Tracey Neville, Head Coach of the England Netball Squad; an MBE for super bantamweight champion boxer, Carl Frampton; an MBE for Stephanie Houghton, Captain, England Women’s Football Team; and an MBE for Fara Williams, most capped player of the England Women’s Football Team.
The New Year’s Honours List sees a significant rise in the proportion of awards to women at senior levels (38% female at Knighthood/Damehood/C-level compared to only 31% female at those levels in the 2015 Birthday Honours). In particular, there are a number of prominent women to highlight recognised for their support to the UK economy.
Recommendations at DBE include Carolyn McCall, CEO, EasyJet; Natalie Massenet, Founder of Net-A-Porter and CEO, Porter Online Magazine; and Judith Hackitt, Chair of the Health and Safety Executive. Recommendations at CBE include Jacqueline Gold, Chief Executive, Ann Summers and Knickerbox; Nicola Shaw, CEO, HighSpeed 1; Caroline Morse, Founder and Managing Director, Bridge Club Ltd; Dr Tracy Long, Founder, Boardroom Review Ltd; and Lindy Payne, Founder of the Advertising Agency Register and founding member of the Women in Advertising and Communications London Future Leaders Award, now in its 10th year.
Other senior awards to women include a damehood for Barbara Windsor for services to charity and to entertainment; a damehood for actress, Sian Phillips; a damehood for Glenys Stacey, Chief Regulator and Chief Executive, Ofqual; a damehood for Heather Rabbatts, non-executive Director of the FA and former CEO of Lambeth Council; a CBE for actress, Imelda Staunton; a CBE for Yasmin Sheikh, Co-Founder of the British Community Honours Awards; and a CBE for Anna-Marie Phelps, voluntary Chair of British Rowing.
In total 1,196 people have received an award with 76% of the recipients people who have undertaken outstanding work in their communities either in a voluntary or paid capacity;
Recipients stretch from Cornwall, where Mrs Elizabeth Coot receives a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to fundraising and to the community in Constantine, right up to the Orkney Islands where Mrs Marny Mowatt receives a BEM for her service to the Orkney Agricultural Show.
There are a number of awards in this List for services to World War Two Commemoration. Agnes Grunwald-Spier, Trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), receives an MBE, as does Susan Pollack whose support and advice to HMD helped to shape the content of the UK Commemorative Ceremony. Those who will receive a BEM include Ivor Perl, an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor who has been working with the HMD Trust in local communities to highlight the dangers of hatred and the importance of tolerance.
There are also a number of awards on this List that recognise outstanding contributions through the Ebola campaign. Awards include a knighthood for Dr Michael Jacobs, Clinical Lead in Infectious Diseases, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust; a CBE for Dr Timothy Brooks, Head of Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory, Public Health England; a CBE for Professor Christopher Bulstrode, Emeritus Professor, Green Templeton College, Oxford and Volunteer, Doctors of the World; and an OBE for Grace Jackson, Sierra Leone Programme Manager, DfID.
