A Harrogate hospice leader has been awarded an OBE in the King’s New Year’s Honours List.
Tony Collins, who is chief executive of Saint Michael’s Hospice, has been awarded the honour for service to the community.
Mr Collins, who is also chief executive of specialist bereavement and emotional wellbeing service Just ‘B’ and Hambleton and Richmondshire-based Herriot Hospice Homecare, has been a leader in the hospice community in Yorkshire and the North East for 27 years, and also sits on the board of national charity Hospice UK.
He has been at the forefront of increasing hospice care at home, increasing accessibility to hospice care for people in rural areas and introducing Yorkshire’s first specialised community bereavement service – Just ‘B’ – in 2009.
Saint Michael’s provides care and support for families living with terminal illness and bereavement across the Harrogate district. It does this from its hospice building, as well as in the community. Alongside Just ‘B’ and Herriot Hospice Homecare, it makes up registered charity North Yorkshire Hospice Care.
Joint chairs of trustees for the charity, Colin Tweedie and Joanne Crewe, praised Mr Collins’ “commitment and dedication to ensuring people across North Yorkshire and beyond have access to high quality care and support at the right time, and in the right place” in a statement.
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Nidderdale lollipop lady receives BEM in King’s New Year Honours
A retired lollipop lady who helped generations of children cross the road in Nidderdale has been awarded a British Empire Medal for services to child road safety.
Mary Fisher is one of 83 recipients in Yorkshire and the Humber named in the King’s New Year’s Honours List, which will be published in full later.
Mary, 88, was persuaded by a local policeman to start work as a lollipop lady outside Summerbridge Community Primary School in 1975.
She stayed in post for 47 years, carrying out 18,000 morning and afternoon patrols, before finally retiring last December.
The school paid tribute on Mary’s final day.
During that time, she got to know all the children’s names and saw many of them return years later with children of their own.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said:
“Everyone from Yorkshire receiving honour today represents the best in British communities.
“I send my warmest congratulations to this year’s recipients, all of whom are incredibly deserving for what they have achieved.
“If you know someone in your community who has done something extraordinary, nominate them for an honour so together we can recognise what they have achieved.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:
“The New Year’s Honours list recognises the exceptional achievements of people across the country and those who have shown the highest commitment to selflessness and compassion.
“To all honourees, you are the pride of this country and an inspiration to us all.”
Read more:
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‘This is for everyone I work with’ says Knaresborough woman made MBE
A charity director from Knaresborough has been made an MBE in the first King’s New Year Honours.
Julia Skelton leads Mind the Gap, a Bradford-based arts company that specialises in offering training to and performances by people with learning disabilities and autism.
Having been in post for more than 20 years, including leading the organisation through the covid pandemic, she was still surprised to receive the email informing her she was being offered the honour. She said:
“My first reaction was to assume it was a hoax! Having established via a trusted colleague that it wasn’t, my second reaction was to be very embarrassed, having spent many years working hard to put others in the limelight.”
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Despite the honour being in her name, Julia said she recognised it as something for the entire theatre company.
She said:
“Some people get nominated for an MBE for their individual endeavours. Not me though – without question this recognition is for Mind the Gap and everyone, past, present and future, who’s contributed to the company’s success.
“In particular, the fantastic learning disabled and autistic artists who underpin everything we do and what we are about. And for those who collaborate artistically and more broadly so the company can create and tour work, and support skills development.”
Julia said she hoped the honour would help to promote the arts, especially as they face cuts to public funding and other challenges.
She also paid tribute to all women receiving honours, adding:
‘I hope we’ve made a difference’ says Harrogate charity founder awarded MBE“I’m just one of thousands of women who plug away day in, day out, to further the success of things they believe in.
“I’m pleased to accept this award in celebration of all women’s achievements, especially those living and working in the north.”
Founding and leading a specialist dementia charity has led a Harrogate woman to be made an MBE in the King’s New Year Honours.
Jill Quinn set up Burton Leonard-based Dementia Forward in spring 2012 and it has expanded rapidly in the intervening years.
She was notified of her award, made in recognition of services to people with dementia, three weeks ago. She said:
“I only told my children and my husband. It was tricky to keep it a secret at work.
“To be really honest, I thought it was a hoax. It came by email and there was a spelling mistake in it. My husband didn’t want me to get too excited.”
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Ms Quinn said the last year has brought some significant achievements for Dementia Forward, which was given the Queen’s Award for Volunteering as well as The King’s Fund Impact Award.
She and the rest of the team have more plans for the coming year, too. She said:
“I’m trying to be a local charity but we’re punching above our weight. we want to share our success wider than where we deliver our services.
“I think we are on to something. We’re managing to make a difference.
“Dementia is complicated and far-reaching for families. We’ve got a lot to do still, but I hope we’ve made a difference in North Yorkshire.
“Our biggest push now is for young onset dementia – that’s people diagnosed under the age of 65. People are treated the same whether they are 40 or 90 and that isn’t right.
“For the first time, we’re sticking our heads outside North Yorkshire. We’re saying we think our model is working really well and joining up with other people to try and get these things noticed.”
While there are plans in place for the charity from the new year, the next few days will be for family celebrations.
Ms Quinn only told her father about her award two days ago, knowing how pleased and proud he would be. She added:
Leading education pair in Harrogate now have matching royal honours“It’s hard to explain how it feels. It’s lovely.”
There cannot be many families in the UK with two members whose work has been recognised by the monarch.
There may be none, so far, with two certificates signed by two different monarchs.
That rare privilege will belong to Richard Sheriff and his wife Janet, who have both now been made OBEs in recognition of their services to education.
Mr Sheriff, CEO of the Red Kite Learning Trust (RKLT) – a family of 13 schools including Harrogate Grammar School, where he was formerly head – has been included in the King’s first New Year Honours list.
He said:
“I was surprised and really delighted. I’m not one of those people that’s cynical about these things – it’s an absolute privilege.”
Though Mr Sheriff shared the news with his wife, he had not told their two sons until last night, as the list was about to be published.
A quiet toast at home with family was the planned celebration, before his schools reopen on Tuesday and normal work resumes.
However, he said, his new status has given him a change in attitude:
“You feel even more so you need to do something for it, make it look like you’re worth it. There’s a moral pressure there.
“There’s an element of embarrassment. I know so many people who are deserving of awards.
“Our chair of trustees Chris Tulley and all the trustees – they give up their time for nothing to help young people in our schools. The classroom teachers and teaching assistants, and the young people.
“The greatest thing in my job is bumping into kids I’ve taught and they tell you what they’ve been doing – and they’ve really done well. It’s just fantastic.”
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Mr Sheriff, who is the first person to have been president of the Association of School and College Leaders twice, said being able to give his time to the organisation and to other groups he has been a part of was a reflection of the support of the team around him throughout his career.
He described leading the RKLT as a privilege, bringing together people with “the same ethics and professional generosity” to ensure they delivered the best possible education.
He said:
“I’m an advocate for teaching and our profession. Anything that can put a positive light on a service that’s often seen in a dim light – a positive story about education.
“Working with young people is just brilliant and I don’t regret for a second 30-odd years of service to education.”
Awaiting a date for his investiture, Mr Sheriff reflected on attending Windsor Castle with his wife as she was awarded her honour by Princess Anne.
Mrs Sheriff – a headteacher at Prince Henry’s Grammar School in Otley who was made an OBE two years ago – now has her certificate on display at home.
Mr Sheriff said:
Five Harrogate district recipients on King’s first honours list“I took in my wife’s certificate and at the top of it, it’s signed in her own hand, ‘Elizabeth’. I looked and thought, ‘that’s a piece of history’.
“It’s absolutely wonderful. I was a huge admirer of the public service of the Queen. To have that in her own hand is very special.
“Now, alongside it, might be one signed ‘Charles’. That’s something to pass down to our sons and then perhaps to our grandchildren. It’s quite special.
“I do appreciate it, I do feel very humbled by it, and I want to honour the honour by doing good with the time I’ve got to do it.”
Years of dedication in their fields have brought recognition for people from the Harrogate district.
The first New Year Honours List published in the reign of King Charles III features five residents from the area, each for different reasons.
Richard Sheriff, CEO of the Red Kite Learning Trust (RKLT), has been made an OBE for services to education.
The former headteacher was made head of the trust in 2018 after 11 years at Harrogate Grammar School.
RKLT now comprises 13 primary and secondary schools, including the grammar school. It became one of the first teaching school hubs in the country, while Mr Sheriff was the first person to serve two terms as president of the Association of School and College Leaders.
He remains chairman of the ASCL’s trust leaders advisory board as well as a member of the national STEM advisory board and a trustee of the professional teaching institute.
There are three recipients of MBEs in the Harrogate district.
Cyclist Lizzie Deignan, who grew up in Otley and now calls Harrogate home, appears on the list after many years of achievements.
Photograph: Trek Segafredo
She represented Team GB at two Olympic Games, winning silver in the women’s road race in London in 2012. She has triumphed in the women’s Tour de France and the UCI Women’s Road World Cup on two occasions each, and in other races including Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and the Tour de Yorkshire.
The 34-year-old is now back in training after having her second child in September, and is expected to be racing for Trek-Segafredo again in 2023.
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Knaresborough resident Julia Skelton has been recognised for her services to charity and to the community in Bradford, through her role as executive director of Mind the Gap.
The theatre company offers training courses and live performance for people with learning disabilities and autism.
Dementia Forward CEO Jill Quinn has also been made an MBE, in recognition of her services to people with dementia across the Harrogate district.
She founded the charity in April 2012, supporting people with dementia and those caring for them. It has gone on to expand across North Yorkshire, offering an advice line, specialist dementia nursing services, and community events and groups for people with dementia and their families and carers.
The BEM has been awarded to Killinghall resident Anne Holdsworth, chair of the parish council and long-standing active volunteer in the community.
As well as almost 50 years on Killinghall Parish Council, Mrs Holdsworth has served on the village hall committee, as a governor at Killinghall Primary School, and as a member of the health authority. She has also represented the parish council at borough and county councils.
Want to know more about our local recipients of the King’s New Year Honours? Keep an eye on the Stray Ferret’s website and social media for in-depth stories and interviews tomorrow.