WATCH | HONOURS: Ordinary Scots doing extraordinary things

A runner whose lockdown 5k challenge raised more than £5million for NHS charities has been honoured by the Queen.

Olivia Strong, from Edinburgh, created the Run for Heroes 5km Challenge which inspired a million people to run five-kilometres, donate £5, and nominate five-friends to do the same.

Her idea, which she initially hoped would raise £5,000, went viral on Instagram with participants from more than 20-countries taking part - including Olympian Sir Mo Farah, singer Ellie Goulding, comedian Jimmy Carr, and football coach John Terry.

The 27-year-old has been made an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to fundraising during the pandemic.

She said it was "really special" to be given the honour, and added it is for all 1.5-million people inspired to take part in the challenge, and her family and friends who helped set up the campaign.

She told the PA news agency: "There are not many words to describe it - to be honest it feels really special to be recognised for something that was such a joy to be part of but also at the same time felt so right.

"The MBE is not for me - it's a Run for Heroes MBE. It's for the 1.5-million-people who went out and also for the team I've been working with - India, Alice and my family.

"It's an award on behalf of everybody. I very strongly feel it's not something achieved by myself in any way."

The freelance documentary producer came up with the idea for the challenge during a run on Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh while in lockdown.

She said: "I noticed how many people were also running and I thought - why don't we pay to do our daily form of exercise?

"5k was within the guidelines and I thought £5 was not too much money to ask people."

She now hopes to make the challenge a yearly event taking place in May and raising money for charities across the UK.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier awarded her a Points of Light Award, a scheme launched in 2014 to recognise outstanding individuals making a difference where they live.

Also on the Queen's Birthday Honours list is Audrey Wood, from Newmachar in Aberdeenshire, who has been given a British Empire Medal after raising more than £235,000 for lifeboat stations across the north east of Scotland following the death of her son.

Stuart "Woody" Wood was one of 16-men who died in the Flight 85N helicopter tragedy in 2009, and Aberdeen RNLI's D-class inshore lifeboat was named "Buoy Woody - 85N" in his memory.

At the time, Mrs Wood described her fundraising efforts as "a distraction therapy for us in this lifelong grieving journey of losing our only son."

Upon receiving the medal, she said: "I'm astounded and honoured by this unexpected recognition.

"I set out to do something positive in response to the tragic loss of Stuart, and perhaps it was more successful than I dared hope.

"But that's really down to the support of so many local businesses and individuals whose generosity nurtured the Glamour, Glitz and Bubbles ladies' day event.

"I hope, when COVID-19 is over, we'll be able to resume our events to support local RNLI lifeboats."

Anne Scott, the RNLI's community manager for north east Scotland, said: "Audrey Wood is a fundraising phenomenon in Aberdeen.

"Every year, outside of 2020, she stages a sparkling sell-out event which makes people aware of the lifesaving work our volunteer crews do - and that none of this work could happen were it not for the generosity of members of the public.

"The RNLI is hugely grateful to Audrey."

In Glasgow, an MBE has been awarded to a restaurateur who gave out free meals to NHS workers and vulnerable people during lockdown.

David Maguire, 62, said his first customers on the first day of lockdown - nurses from the Beatson Cancer Centre at Gartnavel Hospital - inspired him to help out during the pandemic.

They visited his West End restaurant 1051 GWR for lunch as all their usual places had been forced to close, including the hospital canteen.

When Mr Maguire and head chef Steven Caputa served the nurses, he said: "We looked at each other and went we just can't charge them. We're just making pizza and pasta but these girls were risking their lives to keep going with their patients, so we thought we'll just give it to them."

That started a movement which saw the restaurant make more than 800-free meals daily for the next 11-weeks, during which time he lived in his garage as his wife was shielding.

While they initially started helping NHS workers have a hot meal every day, food was also given to the homeless and families in need.

He set up a fundraising campaign with £10,000 of his own money, which raised more than £68,000.

Mr Maguire said: "The restaurant kind of changed from a restaurant to a massive food production centre."

He said he is "really pleased" to be recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours list, but stressed it was a team effort and without Mr Caputa and employee Melody Whitley he "wouldn't have lasted a week."

Mr Maguire said: "If Steven hadn't been enthusiastic and determined none of this could've happened.

"It was really his ability as a chef and his skill as a chef.

"When you turn round to a Michelin star chef and say how many dinners can you do, and they normally do about 40 a night.

"When you say can you do 1,500 a day, most would say no. It's a completely different set of skills and not many people have them, and he's fantastic."

Meanwhile, "one woman army" Ms Whitley did not take a day off during lockdown to ensure she could source enough food.

He said: "She goes around supermarkets picking up the surplus, she goes round all the manufacturers, she brings stuff to us to transform into meals, she delivers stuff from us to all the hostels in Glasgow."

Mr Maguire also said he would have been lost without his wife Veronica.

"She was shielding so I had to live in our garage for 11-weeks," he said. "And for 11-weeks, my wife made sure that I got a breakfast, and a dinner and kept the place warm for me and tidy and did absolutely everything so that I could spend my time out and about.

"Without her support I wouldn't have lasted more than a few days.

"If somebody is really looking after you and making sure that you're comfortable and well fed, you can go for a very long time.

"When you're working with people who are motivated like that, for whom nothing is difficult or a problem, or are in a pretty good mood all the time, it's kind of easy to do this stuff.

"You get caught up in a wee adrenaline buzz and you're riding the wave with it.

"The fact that there are good people out there who are helping you along and motivating you, we could easily see that in the NHS staff."

Meanwhile a woman on the Isle of Arran is celebrating after becoming a Medallist of the Order of the British Empire (BEM) in recognition for her response to the COVID crisis and efforts to keep communities fed throughout the pandemic.

Liz Mclean, store manager at Co-op's Brodick store on the Isle of Arran, was nominated for putting her store at the centre of the Isle of Arran's community response to the crisis, including working round the clock to ensure deliveries were made to hundreds of elderly and vulnerable members of the community.

She helped liaise with local foodbanks and social services, and played an active role in the Island's resilience service.

She said: "I love our customers to bits, they are brilliant, and, the way the community has responded has been incredible.

"Local businesses, volunteers, community groups, the local authorities and especially the port manager of Calmac, all co-operating and helping the community to get through this together.

"In addition, the whole Co-op team has been fantastic, so it feels like this is as much in recognition of all their hard work too. I really am delighted."

In the Highlands, a 90-year-old woman who has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity by climbing the equivalent of a mountain on her stairs has also been honoured by the Queen.

Margaret Payne receives a British Empire Medal for services to the community in Lochinver, Sutherland, after scaling the height of the 731-metre Suilven on her staircase.

She described the royal recognition as a "great honour" and thanked all those who made donations to her fundraising page.

She raised funds for the NHS, the Highland Hospice and the RNLI, with the total now at more than £434,000 including gift aid.

The royal honour comes after the Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, sent her a letter of support during the climb, saying: "In great admiration of your incredible efforts, my wife and I send you our warmest congratulations on your splendid achievement."

Mrs Payne said she was inspired to take on the challenge by Captain Sir Tom Moore, 100, who raised more than £33million for the NHS by doing laps of his garden.

She said it was also a way of saying thank-you to NHS workers on the front line during the pandemic, and hospice staff who took care of her late husband Jim.

"They have been amazing, each day they are risking their lives," she said. "My husband died at Christmas and the NHS were absolutely wonderful."

She started the challenge on Easter Sunday and finished on June 23 after climbing the stairs at her home in Ardvar, Sutherland, for the 282th time.

She told the PA news agency: "It was amazing how much money we managed to make.

"We haven't closed it yet - the Virgin Money Giving page remains open until my birthday which is December 12.

She said climbing the stairs was "better some days than others", dependent on the weather, as she feels stiff when it is damp and cold, adding: "I'm very lucky that we had such a good summer."

Mrs Payne said she has not yet told her family about the honour and is looking forward to doing so.

She added: "Thank-you again to everybody who donated the money. Thousands of people must have donated money."

Donation amounts started at £1, she said, adding: "All those little donations have just built up to an enormous sum, it is amazing.

"And if they hadn't done it then the whole thing wouldn't have worked."

She also thanked her family and the Highland Hospice for their support and help with publicity.

And a former chief scientific adviser for Scotland has encouraged women to enter science and engineering fields as she was made a dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

Professor Muffy Calder, vice principal and head of the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Glasgow, has been made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

She was recognised by the Queen as a "tireless advocate for science and an inspirational role model for future generations of scientists and for women in science."

Prof Calder, 62, was born in Canada but has lived most of her life in Scotland.

She received notification of her award by email in May, initially thinking it was meant for someone else.

"I couldn't believe it," she told the PA news agency. "I got out my camera and took a photograph. It was like, have I imagined this? I'm so surprised and so pleased, and also a little bit embarrassed as well."

A leading researcher in computer science, Prof Calder said her field is a great community to work in, adding that it is important for more women to be encouraged to enter scientific disciplines.

"Why not? Just do it," she said. "It is really clear diversity is good in all walks of life. The way I see it, I've been a scientist - and then I happened to be a woman."

She said the key to getting more people to pursue careers in science and engineering is to "show everybody how interesting the subject is."

She added: "It is so rewarding, it is so interesting, it is the most creative thing you can do."

The coronavirus pandemic, she said, highlighted the value of science, with "the way the engineering community have come together to develop new cheap ventilators" and with businesses retooling to produce personal protective equipment.

She added: "Can you imagine if this (pandemic) had happened 20 years ago? Without email and without all this software infrastructure? And it's all because of research ideas - nobody was planning this software for this scenario."

Prof Calder was previously made an OBE, and she admitted with embarrassment that it is currently "at the back of a cupboard."

She added: "I'm not entirely sure where - somewhere safe."

She credited her university with providing a platform for her success.

"My success is because of Glasgow University,'' she said. "It has been a great place to work. It has really allowed me to flower."