New Year Honours recognise charity sector leaders & volunteers
Melanie May | 4 January 2023 | News
Published on the last day of the year, the New Year Honours 2022 List was King Charles III’s first, and recognised many from across the sector for their services to charity. Here’s a selection.
Knight / Dame
Scope Chair Robin Millar received a Knighthood for his work in music and disabilities, while Virginia McKenna, who set up the Born Free Foundation in 1984 with her late husband, Bill Travers MBE, and their eldest son, Will Travers OBE, became a Dame.
CBEs
James Reed, chair of the board of trustees at Big Give and chairman of The Reed Group has been awarded the CBE for services to business and charity in the 2023 New Year Honours List.
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Professor Sian Griffiths OBE has been awarded a CBE for voluntary and charitable services, particularly during Covid-19. Griffiths is Deputy Chair of GambleAware and was Chair of the Global Health Committee, Public Health England.
OBEs
Ben Lindsay, CEO of Power the Fight UK, has received an OBE for services to the community in south east London.
Mesba Ahmed, Founder and CEO of London Tigers Charity, received an OBE for services to the community in London.
Jonathan Ball, CEO of the Royal Marines Association and the Royal Marines Charity, was awarded an OBE for services to the Royal Marines.
Sue Cipin, Chief Executive of the Jewish Deaf Association, received an OBE, as did Chief Executive and founder of Unlocked Graduates Charity Natasha Porter, Jonathan William Welfare, Chair of Gingerbread and founder of Turn2Us, Timothy Brett Johnson, former CEO of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, and Catherine Spencer, former CEO of The Seafarers’ Charity and now, since July last year, CEO of Cochrane.
Ian Green, former CEO of the Terrence Higgins Trust, received an OBE for services to charity and public health, while Vicky Browning, former CEO of ACEVO and now interim CEO of The Whitehall and Industry Group, received one for services to the charity sector.
MBEs
Bullying UK President, Deidre Sanders, has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours list.
Mind the Gap’s Executive Director Julia Skelton also received an MBE.
Gambling with Lives co-founders Liz and Charles Ritchie received MBEs for services to charity and to families bereaved by gambling related suicide.
Lucy Wolcott Maguire, the Founder and CEO of Nucleo, has been awarded an MBE for her contributions to the lives of children and young people through the charity’s music for social action project.
Wakkas Khan, Founder of Young Interfaith, received his MBE for services to charity, to young people and to interfaith relations.
Robyn Catherine Knox, Director of Voluntary Community Sector Emergencies Partnership, received an MBE for services to charities and to communities affected by major emergencies.
Shane Ryan, Founder and Chair of the Westminster Young Foundation and Chair of Grenfell Young People’s Fund was awarded an MBE for services to disadvantaged young people and to charity.
Former National Memorial Arboretum team member Ange Ham was recognised for her service with an MME.
Denis Brophy, who during 55 years of unbroken voluntary service for the RNLI, has undertaken a wide range of roles at Walmer Lifeboat Station, including Crew, Coxswain, Deputy Launching Authority and Lifeboat Operations Manager, has also been awarded an MBE.
In addition, MBEs were awarded to Gee Walker, Founder and Patron of the Anthony Walker Foundation; Charles Banks, Chair of the NorthWest Users Group and Secretary, Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association; and Judith Backus, Founder of Hidden Help in Cornwall.
BEMs
Louenna Hood was awarded a British Empire Medal for her commitment to those fleeing the war in Ukraine. Her voluntary work has seen more than £170,000 raised to help those escaping the country and she has helped to organise the delivery of five container loads of essentials directly to people in need.
Pamela Goldsmith from West Sussex was also awarded an BEM, for raising more than £1.5 million for Macmillan over 20 years of volunteering.
Alongside Brophy, a number of other RNLI volunteers received awards, including Fundraising Secretary at Penlee Lifeboat Station Rosalie Whitlock, who was awarded an BEM. Whitlock has been part of the RNLI lifesaving community in Penlee, Mousehole and Newlyn since joining as a fundraiser in 1970 with a collection box on the main street of Penzance. She has been Fundraising Secretary at Penlee for 47 years. Since she joined, the Penlee Fundraising Branch is credited with raising nearly £2 million through souvenir and shop sales and local events.
Edwin ‘Ted’ Luckin who, now 93 years old, has given 62 years of dedicated service to the RNLI, and Andrea Corrie, who has campaigned for improvements in water safety and in support of water safety education since the loss of her son James in 2005, also received BEMs.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.