A FINCHAMPSTEAD woman has been awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list.
Alison Mihail was given the honour for her work with young people – over the past 18 years, she has raised more than £2.1 million to help The Prince’s Trust.
The retired headteacher is now the Chair of Thames Valley and Surrey Area Development committee, a role she has held for almost 20 years. She has also been a home economics teacher at the Piggott School.
It’s not the first time that Mrs Mihail has been recognised for her volunteering.
In 2004, she was honoured at the South East Volunteer of the Year Award at The Prince’s Trust Celebrate Success Awards, and was presented with her honour by Edith Bowman.
And in 2006 she attended a Prince’s Trust garden party organised by the Prince of Wales and held at Buckingham Palace. The guest list included Queen guitarist Brian May.
Speaking at the time, she said the working as an area chairman was a full-time job and hoped that the invitation to the event “reflects on all the hard work I have done”.
She added: “I have been with the Trust for 11 years [as of 2006]. I started in a small way and now look after several programmes and 80 volunteers.”
In 2008, Mrs Mihail was also awarded Volunteer of the Year award for the Prince’s Trust. Her prize was given to her by West End star Lee Mead.
At the ceremony, Prince Charles praised Mrs Mihail and her fellow volunteers.
He said: “I just wanted to take this opportunity to say to all those volunteers out there without whom we could not do the work we’re doing in helping to turn people’s lives around in such a satisfactory way. We couldn’t do without that essential volunteering and mentoring element. It’s the mentoring that matters enormously.”
Mrs Mihail was one of 1,196 civilians who were awarded honours in the New Year list.
Other local recipients included:
A CBE for Reading-based John Baxter. The former group head of engineering for BP has also served as the president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and served on a Polaris nuclear submarine carrying out refitting. His award comes for services to the Engineering, Education and the Energy Sector.
An OBE was awarded to Paul Owen from Wargrave. The chief executive of the British Canoe Union was honoured for his services to Canoeing.
An MBE for political service has been awarded to Pangbourne-based Christopher Fenwick.
A BEM (British Empire Medal) has been awarded to Margaret Morgan for her services to the community of Berkshire, including her work as co-chair of the Ascot, Sunninghill and Sunningdale Neighbourhood Plan Delivery Group Committee.
