Everyone from the East receiving an award in the King's birthday honours list
Several people have been awarded the honours
People across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire have been recognised in the King's 2023 birthday honours list.
What honours will they be receiving?
A number of people from our counties have been awarded MBEs (Member of the British Empire), which are granted for an outstanding achievement or service to the community, which has had a long-term, significant impact and will stand out as an example to others.
Others are receiving BEMs (British Empire Medal), which are granted for a ‘hands-on’ service to the local community. This could be a long-term charitable or voluntary activity, or innovative work of a relatively short duration (3 to 4 years) that has made a significant difference.
Here are all those receiving MBEs and BMEs in the King's 2023 birthday honours list from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire:
Norfolk
Barbara Wilson MBE - North Walsham - for services to Education
Barbara is a national expert in childcare sufficiency assessment and oversees research activities and reporting on a wide variety of Early Years projects.
She has designed, led and implemented an extensive range of research projects and activities, including: Sure Start, children’s centre and extended services consultation and review of childcare sufficiency assessments.
She also works as a Local Government Association early years social mobility peer reviewer for local authorities and DfE.
Jean Frances Bonnick MBE - Dereham - for services to the Administration of Justice
During Jean's time as a magistrate, she built up an extensive knowledge of mental health issues as relating to the law.
It's thanks to her that Norfolk courts have Psychiatric Nurses either present or on call to assist defendants whom the Bench felt may have mental health issues when attending court so that expert reports could be prepared quickly to aid sentencing.
She is a strong advocate for young people and has championed Restorative Justice, and helped fewer young people by preventing those with mental health issues being criminalised unnecessarily.
"It's difficult to describe the feelings"
"I'm overwhelmed by it all. I got a letter about six weeks ago, out of the blue and had no idea. I've been retired from the Magistrates for two years- so I'm absolutely dumb struck".
"It's just amazing, it's difficult to describe the feelings because I don't go out there to seek any of this. It's very humbling, I don't know when or where it'll be- that'll be another hurdle to get over.
"I didn't do it for any recognition, so it's a great honour to be put forward by other people. But I did feel passionate about the work that I was doing and had a great interest in it".
"Until this week I still thought it might be a wind up, then I started getting one or two calls and I suddenly thought, this is actually happening.
Michael Frederick Arnold Sayer BEM - Holt - for services to the community in Bodham, Norfolk
Michael's a volunteer known locally for his more than 65 years of service to the preservation of the village playing fields in his community of Bodham.
He first became involved in the Bodham Village Playing Field Committee at the age of 15, and has been involved ever since.
As well as ensuring essential maintenance of the field and grounds, including in the face of recent vandalism in the facilities, he has taken the lead on several new developments and improvements; as a result of his work, the community now benefits from a high quality playing field, with adult training equipment, floodlights allowing for events to take place throughout the day and all year round, and professional gardening and field maintenance services.
Most recently, he personally engaged two local football teams who now use the playing field as their home ground, providing both a greater number of local sporting events for the community and additional revenues for the maintenance of the field.
Suffolk
Karen Anne Harris BEM - Felixstowe - for services to Policing
Karen has made numerous contributions to volunteering in policing in Suffolk and the surrounding communities.
She helped to set up the Suffolk Sexual Assault Referral Centre, where she worked with victims of sexual abuse, providing practical help in the aftermath of traumatizing experiences.
She became the Police Support Volunteer Coordinator in 2014 and helped to grow the scheme from 36 volunteers to 170 volunteers, promoting the scheme both internally and externally.
In 2015, she set up the Suffolk Mounted Volunteer scheme in 2015, enrolling horse riders in rural communities to be the ‘eyes and ears’ for the Constabulary, to provide missing key pieces of information in rural crime.
She was a key part of the Force’s response to the pandemic, keeping in touch remotely with volunteers and adapting their roles to enable as many as possible to contribute despite the restrictions, including the use of technology to keep in touch and stay productive.
She is also the Citizens in Policing East of England regional coordinator across seven counties, in addition to her Suffolk responsibilities, regularly representing the region at a national level and overseeing the region’s response to implementing consistent vetting standards for cadet leaders across the Forces.
Essex
Sophie Elizabeth Scowen MBE - Chafford Hundred - for services to the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Since 2020, Sophie's been responsible for managing the development and delivery of the event and crowd management plans of the Greater London Authority's plans to support the delivery of Operation London Bridge - the Queen's death and funeral.
During delivery of Operation London Bridge she managed the multi-agency event liaison facility.
Robert Woodland MBE - Loughton - for services to Art and to Heritage Crafts
Robert's a wood grainer and decorative artist whose work can be seen in a variety of buildings across the country, including The Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, the British Museum, the Tower of London, Grand Lodge, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Kensington Palace, Bagshot Park and the Mandarin Hotel.
He has wood grained miles of corridors in the Palace of Westminster, uplifted countless London pub fronts with wood graining, marble painting and signwriting, restored pipe organ facades in over 25 historical churches, and undertaken numerous home & furniture commissions.
Alexander Gibson BEM - Brentwood - for services to Charity, particularly to People with Motor Neurone Disease
Alexander is the founder of Challenging Motor Neuron Disease.
He was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (MND) in 2018, and now spends much of his time raising money through world record-breaking endeavours.
He broke the record for pedalo-ing the length of the Chelmer, pressing 1,000,000 kg in 12 hours and he has also successfully completed the three peaks challenge.
So far, he's raised over £450,000.
Cheryl Bertschi BEM - Leigh on Sea - for services to Education
Cheryl has worked in Early Years for 28 years, and is now a tutor at Southend Adult Education Community College.
For the past 9 years she has run a soup kitchen based in Southend-on-Sea for the homeless, which feeds around 80 people every Saturday.
She's also an Outreach Volunteer for the homeless and vulnerable in Southend.
During the pandemic she volunteered in a pop-up night shelter working with the homeless until they were placed in local bed and breakfast establishments.
She also went out daily to carry out welfare checks on vulnerable individuals, administering emergency first aid where necessary.
Rolf Penzias BEM - Buckhirst Hill - for services to Holocaust Remembrance and Education
100 year old Rolf has been a member of the AJR’s Kindertransport Committee for more than 20 years, helping to educate people about the Holocaust.
He's spoken at numerous events sharing his story and experiences with the younger generation - in 2020, he hosted sessions with almost 900 students.
More recently, he took on the role of a telephone volunteer, calling AJR members to check in on them and see whether they needed any assistance as a part of his ongoing advocacy to and support of fellow Jewish refugees who experienced Nazi oppression.
Cambridgeshire
Angela Maddalyna Frazer-Wicks MBE - for services to Children and Families
Angela chairs the Family Rights Group in Cambridgeshire.
She was a victim of domestic abuse and has campaigned for change to the child welfare system to help improve the experiences of other children and families.
"I’ve been campaigning for change within the system since I lost my children in 2004," said Angela.
"And I wormed my way into pretty much every single piece of research or working group that’s looking at changing the system, so I think that’s probably why this (MBE) has happened.
“I’m hoping as well as raising awareness of people like me is showing other birth parents that haven’t quite got to the point I’ve got to that it’s okay; you can speak out."
Angela sits on several research and practice advisory boards, such as the Born into Care study, where she ensures that the perspectives of birth parents whose children were adopted informs the development of new guidelines.
She co-chairs the Cafcass Learning and Improvement Board to drive reforms, and ensures those with lived experience including young people are thoughtfully supported.
In January 2021 she was appointed to the Experts by Experience Board of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England to learn from parents, carers and young people.
"There's been a shift in the way people are seeing us"
She's been appointed as a Parent and Families Representative on the Family Justice Council.
And she was chosen by the Department of Education to represent the views of birth parents at the first meeting of the National Implementation Board to guide the transformation to the children's social care system.
“I get to meet families telling me that whilst my experiences were 18 years ago, these things are still happening now and there’s still this need for change," Angela added.
“He (Angela’s husband) was saying one day, that will be you and I always said they’ll never give an MBE to a birth parent, so I think this has shown there has been a shift in the way people are thinking and seeing us.”
Patricia Joyce Covington BEM - For services to the community in Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire
For over 35 years, Patricia has been the head postmistress at the local Post Office, providing a sense of community, especially for those considered vulnerable, isolated or in need of support.
During the pandemic she identified and arranged support for everyone considered vulnerable in the village.
She has provided catering for all village events including children’s football tournaments and the various village and royal celebrations over countless years and has been a key figure in the Morden’s Branch of the Royal British Legion for over 35 years.
Last year, Patricia raised over £2000 for charity, through selling covid face masks and hand crocheted poppies.