A NUMBER of Reading and Wokingham residents are starting 2022 with new titles, after being named in the New Year Honours List.
They include fundraisers, medical experts, scientists and experts in education.
And they are rubbing shoulders alongside a host of big names including Olympians Laura and Jason Kenny, who received a damehood and knighthood respectively. Tom Daley and Adam Peaty received OBEs following their gold medal success at the Tokyo Olympics.
There is an OBE for Hannah Mills for sailing and her continued campaigning on marine pollution and athlete Hannah Cockroft. Other Olympians and Paralympians being honoured include a CBE for cyclist Jody Cundy, OBE for sprinter and cyclist Kadeena Cox, and MBEs for boxer Lauren Price, diver Matty Lee and BMX racer Bethany Shriever.
Fresh from winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, Emma Radacanu receives an MBE, and Chelsea Women’s manager Emma Hayes receives an OBE for her work promoting women’s football.
Sheila Parker, the first captain of the England Women Football Team, is given an MBE for services to football and charity. There is also an OBE for six-time World Championship winning superbike racer Jonathan Rea.
And recognising their leadership battling Covid-19, knighthoods go to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England Professor Chris Whitty, CMO for Scotland Gregor Smith and CMO for Wales Frank Atherton. Also recognised are Chief Government Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, and Deputy Medical Officers for England Dr Jenny Harries and Professor Jonathan Van-Tam.
For her work on the vaccine rollout, Emily Lawson receives a Damehood. Others honoured for their response to the pandemic include Alice Jackson, Nicola Perfect and Bridget Stratford who receive BEMs for their community responses to COVID-19.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “These recipients have inspired and entertained us and given so much to their communities in the UK or in many cases around the world.
“The honours are an opportunity for us to thank them, as a country, for their dedication and outstanding contribution.”
A CBE has been awarded to Professor Wendy Barclay, who is head of department of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London, and Action Medical Research Chair Virology. The Reading-based expert has been with the College for 15 years, after her research group moved from the University of Reading, which she had been based since 1995.
Her expertise is in respiratory viruses, and her studies aim to understand the molecular and cellular basis of the pathogenesis, host range restrictions and transmissibility of influenza viruses.
Naturally, her honour is for services to virology.
An OBE has been awarded to Bracknell-based Kathryn Brown, who is the Head of Adaptation at the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), and leads the secretariat that supports the Adaptation Committee.
A Cambridge graduate, she has worked on climate change policy and evidence for 15 years. Before her current role, she spent 10 years working at Defra on international negotiations, adaptation evidence and carbon budgets.
Her honour is for services to climate change research.
Lady Rachel Waller, the co-founder and former head of fundraising of the Charlie Waller Trust has received the OBE for her services to mental health in young people. Along with her husband Sir Mark, they funded the trust in 1997, after their son Charlie died by suicide.
They wish to help others by helping people understand and talk openly about mental health, particularly with young people.
The charity offers a range of resources to help train people, support parents and carers, and offer support and raining to GPs.
Based in Thatcham, the Charlie Waller Trust saw Sir Mark and Lady Rachel retired in 2020, and are now joint presidents.
An MBE has been granted to Crowthorne-based John Archibald, the Hall Porter at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst for his services to the defence industry.
The same honour has been granted to John Harris, chair of British Shooting for services to sport. The Reading-based sportsman began his role at British Shooting in October 2011 and completed two terms as Chair, spanning two Olympic and Paralympic Cycles, including London 2012 and Rio 2016. He stepped down in September 2020.
At the time, he said: “It has been a privilege and honour to lead British Shooting for the past nine years. I am proud of what we have been able to achieve to drive the sport forward.”
Berkshire-based Richard Mills received an MBE for services to Law Enforcement
Reading-based Kevin Nutt received an MBE for services to Young People through Sport and the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
World champion paralympic rower Oliver Stanhope received an MBE for services to Rowing. The 23-year-old based in Reading comes from a family of rowers, with his parents taking part in Olympic Games.
The University of Reading’s campus commerce director Matthew White receives an MBE for his services to catering and the hospitality industry.
A BEM has been awarded to Julia Baines, a teaching assistant at St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School in Bracknell. It has been awarded for her services to education for people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
A neighbouring newspaper has seen its editor receive a BEM. Simon Bradshaw, who lives in the Reading area, was nominated for his services to the community of Henley during the Covid-19 pandemic. He has been editor of the paper since 2008, and was previously editor of the Brighton Argus, and the Daily Record in Scotland.
Rebecca Jefferies, the head of human resources and learning and development at the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service has been awarded an MBE for her work with the service.
And Purley resident Nicola Woodward also has an MBE. This is for her service to the community.
Look out for interviews with some of the recipients in next week’s Reading Today and Wokingham Today papers
