Here are the people in the East being honoured by the Queen this New Year
They have been recognised for services to their community, education and charity amongst other things
Her Majesty the Queen has chosen to honour a number of people in the East of England to mark the New Year.
They have been recognised for services to their community, education and charity, Local Government and diversity amongst other things.
Here are some of those who are being honoured from the East:
Norfolk:
Andrew Waddison BEM
For services to the community in Kings Lynn, Norfolk during Covid-19
●He is the owner of a press and publicity company called AWPR, which provides publicity and promotion services to a very large number of businesses in both Norfolk and throughout East Anglia.
●Last year he relaunched hospitality at the Rose and Crown public house in Snettisham, Norfolk.
●On the day the lockdown was announced, he contacted all of his customers and reassured them that he would continue to work full time for them until they could afford to pay once they fully reopened after the initial lockdown.
●He helped The Purfleet Trust Homeless Charity in King's Lynn, organising food donations for vulnerable homeless people in the area from local pubs and restaurants, working to give free food to vulnerable people in the Burnham Market Area, helping promote and provide meals to NHS and East of England Ambulance staff as part of the Food 4 Heroes scheme.
Tyrone Harold BEM
For services to the community in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk during Covid-19
●A successful businessman in the hospitality industry, he utilised his skills as the owner of a restaurant and a catering company to prepare and deliver freshly cooked meals for vulnerable and homeless individuals in the local area.
●At the beginning of the national lockdown in March 2020, he adapted his catering business into a takeaway and delivery service in order to provide essential support to vulnerable members of the local community. He delivered over 200 meals a week.
●He was contacted by Great Yarmouth Borough Council and was asked to assist with their efforts in feeding homeless individuals who were being housed in local hotels and B&Bs.
●During the school holidays he donated hundreds of packed lunches to the families of local children who were in need of additional support.
●His wife was a huge support to implement all the above and he had a very dedicated team that helped him deliver on the community elements of his work.
Diana Jane Staines MBE
For services to People with Disabilities in Norfolk particularly during Covid-19
●She has turned a poorly funded, struggling organisation into a vibrant, dynamic, progressive day-care centre 'Centre 81' which serves the needs of over 700 disabled members within the community, offering them a chance to engage in new skills and activities such as sailing, ten-pin bowling, theatre visits, music, drama and dining out.
●When Covid impacted the Centre, she was quick to adapt the working practises of her managers and staff to ensure that the members continued to receive their all-important care. She said her understanding of the rewards and stresses experienced by family carers came from personal experience.
●As well as managing this very busy Centre on a day-to-day basis, she is spearheading an ambitious project to relocate the charity to new, more suitable premises as the current premises are outdated and no longer fit for purpose.
Vivienne Lennox MBE
Chair of Governors, Suffield Park Infant and Nursery School, Norfolk. For services to Education
●She began as a governor at the Suffield Park Infant and Nursery School in 1998 and became chair of the governing Board in 2000.
●She served four years as a governor at Cromer High School (now an Academy) and seven years at Paston College in North Walsham, and served on the curriculum, quality & standards and audit Committees.
●In 2013, she spearheaded the work on a £3 million construction project, lobbying and planning for the construction of six new classrooms to accommodate the rising numbers of pupils, and a major refurbishment of the older permanent buildings which were officially opened in July 2018.
Suffolk:
Kathryn Parker BEM
For services to the community in Woolpit, Suffolk during Covid-19
●A week prior to the announcement of the national lockdown in March 2020, she contacted every single household in the community, asking whether they required support of any kind.
●From these correspondences, she constructed a database of vulnerable individuals, and paired up households with volunteers.
●At the beginning of the pandemic, she had identified over 196 vulnerable individuals, and garnered the support of over 178 volunteers.
●The Woolpit Coronavirus Emergency Group has provided much needed support in the form of medical prescription collection, food shopping, and by providing a twice weekly delivery of hot meals to those in need.
Krystal Vittles BEM
Head of Service Delivery, Suffolk Libraries. For services to Public Libraries
●She has been a trailblazer in exploring alternative delivery models and brokering partnership working, and leveraging her expertise in working with young people, to enhance and improve library services for the people of East Anglia.
●She played a critical role in the establishment and success of the first libraries sector public service mutual.
●She has since become its overall Libraries Operations Manager.
●She spearheaded Suffolk Libraries’ successful bid to become an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and co-designed a programme with young people and local artists to increase youth access and involvement with culture.
●BLOC (Building Libraries On Creativity) is now successfully running a vibrant and dynamic outreach programme across the county.
Mark Murphy MBE
For services to Radio and the community in Suffolk
●He is an award-winning local radio presenter who has used his platform to make significant charitable and environmental contributions throughout Suffolk.
●After becoming aware of the high levels of littering around the county in 2011 he launched the ‘Don’t be a Tosser’ campaign to clean up Suffolk.
●The campaign was a huge success and has now evolved into the campaign ‘Planet Suffolk’ which has support from local community groups and younger members of the community who are keen to play their part in helping the environment.
●In 2010, he began supporting a local girl who was campaigning to end knife crime after her brother had been devastatingly stabbed to death.
●He worked with the Chief Constable of Suffolk to establish a knife amnesty and has resulted in the establishment of multiple disposal points throughout the county. In total, over 20,000 knives have been disposed of because of the campaign.
●His concern for the safety of others inspired him to launch the ‘Think Bike’ campaign in 2014 in conjunction with Suffolk County Council and the Suffolk Constabulary. This has led to greater awareness of motorcyclists and the introduction of motorbike safety courses being offered to local motorists.
●In 2017, he founded Suffolk Day to recognise and celebrate the county. It has now become an annual event that celebrates local people and has had a great impact on tourism and the local economy.
●As breakfast presenter at BBC Radio Suffolk, he has been at the forefront of the Covid pandemic response delivering trusted news, linking community groups and raising spirits in some of the darkest times.
Jordan Catchpole MBE
For services to Swimming
●He won gold in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay S14 at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympics.
●He is also currently a two-time European silver medallist and two-time silver and bronze world champion medallist.
●Diagnosed with autism, his coach is Tim Millett and he is a member of Team Waveney.
Essex:
Dawn Wood BEM
Marine Constable, Essex Police. For Services to Marine Policing and to Conservation
●She has forged many excellent working relationships with other agencies including Harbour Masters, Border Force, the National Crime Agency and local yacht clubs alike and is very well known and respected in the Marine Community.
●She is a regular face amongst the Marine community on and off duty, so there have been various times where she is contacted via social media for help and advice around issues and also general advice around policing.
●She devotes time for her community resulting in a strong level of public trust and confidence which is paramount in policing.
●She does this by dealing with anti-social behaviour on the water, counter terrorism patrols, body recovery and search and rescue to name but a few.
Anne Wilson BEM
For services to the community in Great Leighs, Essex
●In the Great Leighs district she founded and led the Leighs Celebration Committee, responsible for organising valued community events that are free to residents.
●For instance, in 2014 she organised an exhibition of war mementoes; this was a significant event, being attended by over 200 people.
●She has also been civically active locally arranging daffodil bulb planting in the village, litter picks, and participating in village clubs and societies, including a village charity that supports needy families.
●During the first Covid-19 lockdown she regularly posted on the Leighs Community Site pictures from her daily dog walks. She used these pictures to produce calendars which she sold to raise funds for projects at Leighs primary school.
●Also during this time she hand sewed over a hundred face masks for charitable bodies.
●She continued to volunteer at the Braintree Food Bank, a very valuable community resource during the pandemic.
Donald Edgar Smith BEM
For services to the community in Frinton-on-Sea, Essex particularly during Covid-19
●Whilst serving as a Curate, he was integral in developing the Islington Summer Scheme. The scheme provided an assortment of activities for 500 inner-city children.
●He was instrumental in obtaining funding of £15K per year to keep the scheme running.
●As a result of the Scheme, the crime rate in the area fell dramatically.
●In 1998, he joined the Board of Management at Ealing YMCA where his first project was the failing Jubilee Children’s Centre, which sought to offer childcare for babies and toddlers.
●He recruited local tradesmen to upgrade the building with a refurbished roof, a new toilet block, and a play area.
●The school expanded to incorporate a free Community Internet Café, run by parents and church members as a non-profit to become a local community hub.
●Throughout the pandemic, he developed a project to supply food and prescriptions to all local residents and ensured funds were raised for those financially impacted.
●Food and medical prescriptions were delivered to 129 people with a total of 338 individual deliveries.
●For those who were lonely and isolated, he set up a separate service for wellbeing calls to be made multiple times a week.
●He brought together four primary schools and other stakeholders to provide meals for the 320 eligible children.
Roger McFarland MBE
For services to the community in Chelmsford, Essex
●He has devoted an immense amount of time and commitment to the YMCA as a Trustee spanning a period of nine years acting as vice-chair and chair.
●He oversaw the merging of two distinct branches of the charity with very differing agendas, severe financial difficulties and strong individual Boards, into one sound viable organisation covering the whole of Essex.
●This new bigger charity was in a better position to provide more supported social housing for young people and further accommodation units within the area.
●His diligence, patience and sensitivity ensured the highest standards of governance which inevitably saved the charity much expense in legal fees.
●YMCA Essex now offers increased, well-run support countywide to children, young people and families with ever-expanding and varying programmes and has gained a growing reputation for delivering high-quality services.
●He has been a catalyst for positive change in all the voluntary work he undertakes and not least his dedicated service since 2007 as a Lay Minister of his church All Saints Springfield in Chelmsford Diocese where he still ministers.
Nicholas Rouse MBE
For services to the community in Ridgewell, Essex
●In 2001 he was elected to Ridgewell Parish Council and elected Chairman in the same year.
●He launched a number of initiatives including: a study to solve flooding problems, re-generating of the allotment site, securing construction of affordable homes and obtaining tree council funding to plant 11 new trees on the village green.
●He was the instigator and driving force behind Ridgewell becoming the first small parish in Essex to have a village funded parish plan.
●He chaired a hall improvement team which went on to raise over £725,000 to cover the extension and renovation of the village hall.
●The construction of the hall redevelopment started in February 2020. He acted as Project Director bringing his engineering and project management background to good use.
●As the second strand of the project, over £50,000 has been raised to provide a wide range of children’s play equipment which has been installed on the playing field adjacent to the hall to replace the limited facilities previously.
●The village hall project was completed in 2021 within budget.
Dennis Barnett MBE
For services to vulnerable people in Essex
●He has volunteered with the Open Road Charity (Drug and Alcohol Recovery) for the past 12 years primarily through his role as lead volunteer for the SOS Bus project in Colchester town centre every Friday and Saturday night.
●This entails long shifts during providing a safe haven for vulnerable people who may have been attacked, sexually assaulted, intoxicated or under the influence of drugs - his team of 68 volunteers are trained to deal with any eventuality.
●Over the course of its existence, more than 213,360 people have received some form of help from the SOS Bus on the streets at weekends as well as from the Festival Welfare services provided by Open Road throughout the year, help that would otherwise have drained the already overburdened resources of the Essex Police Force, Ambulance Service and A&E, saving upwards of £300,000 of their budgets.
●He is a locksmith by trade and takes full responsibility over the security and full maintenance and repairs of the Open Road vehicles at no extra cost.
●When not ‘manning’ the bus, the Candidate finds time to deliver essential items to many vulnerable groups in the area and is actively involved in supporting the local women’s refuge particularly during the challenging times of Covid.
James Mackie MBE
Chair, Lifeboat Management Group, Southend-on-Sea Lifeboat Station. For services to the RNLI and Charity
●Over his 45 years of service to the Lifeboat Operations, his efforts have secured over £1million in fundraised income and he has been attached to c.4,000 service calls.
●He joined Southend as a volunteer in 1976, initially hosting visits and giving talks before taking on a supporting role for the Lifeboat Operations Manager in 1985.
●More recently, he has held the position of Chair of the Lifeboat Management Group (LMG), leading the biggest all volunteer-led RNLI station including operations, retail, fundraising, water safety and media engagement.
●He has been driving the fundraising efforts to build a new inshore station at Southend which today houses the D-Class Lifeboat and Hovercraft. The new station houses space for training, meetings and public visits.
●He supported the introduction of the ‘Boxing Day Dip’ which now raises £40k a year and helped attract younger and more diverse volunteers to the fundraising team.
●Outside the RNLI, he has served as Justice of the Peace and was Southend Council Foreshore Manager for many years, responsible for its upkeep and maintenance and education to beach goers and recreational water users.