Community champions given royal honours by the Queen
LARGELY UNSUNG HEROES HAVE YET ANOTHER REASON TO CELEBRATE
A Cross-section of East Yorkshire community champions have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
The citations coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which officially start today with the long Bank Holiday weekend.
The list of those awarded honours includes a mix of largely unsung stalwarts.
British Empire Medal (BEM) recipients include Hull’s Carol Thomas, 66, who became the first Englishwoman footballer to be awarded 50 caps for playing for her country. She was also captain of the England team from 1976 to 1985.
During a glittering playing career, she won her first international cap at the age of just 19 and was made national captain just weeks before her 21st birthday. She led England in seven consecutive tournaments, playing in all 29 games which saw victories in 20, including the final of the 1985 Mundialito, a precursor to the Women’s
World Cup.
A BEM has also been awarded to Louise Yates, the director of Hullbased arts and culture organisation Back To Ours, which launched during Hull’s year as the UK City of Culture in 2017 having previously worked as an arts development officer with the city council.
As well as overseeing a number of community-based projects over the years with a particular focus in Bransholme, she also steered the organisation through Covid-19 by switching many of its programmes online and adapting live shows to restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
The champagne corks will be popping in celebration on the estate’s Heartland Park today where Back To Ours is hosting a three-hour Jubilee Shindig party for the over-55s.
She said: “It was a lovely surprise. I would love to know who nominated me, but whoever it is I am very honoured.
“I love what we do, I love working with people and this one is for
Back To Ours. There couldn’t be a better week for it to happen because we’re having a knees-up with Circus On Your Doorstep and our biggest Shindig yet so come and see us in Bransholme.”
Tickton’s Liz Hallett has also been awarded a BEM for a lifetime of community work, from acting as Brown Owl at the Swinemoor Brownie Pack in Beverley for 32 years to taking on leading role in the Tickton Sports Association, where she was an integral part of a fund-raising group whose efforts saw a donated agricultural field being converted into a sports facility for the village.
A past branch president of the Country Women’s Association, she has also served as president of the Beverley branch of Soroptimist International where she organised many fundraising events. A retired district nursing sister, it is estimated she has raised more than £40,000 for local charities over the years.
She said: “I can’t believe it. Knowing that there are so many good, kind people out there, making their own contributions to the local community.
“I am amazed that I have been singled out for this award and feel humbled and proud. It is an absolute honour and I am delighted.
“I have met many wonderful people while volunteering and this award is not just for me, it is for members of Soroptimist International of Beverley, the people of Tickton who have supported me over the years, my late mum and dad and also my husband Graham, who sadly died a year ago and was the driving force behind it all.”
Another local fundraiser receiving a BEM is Hornsea’s Keith Twigg, 77, who is the fundraising coordinator of the Hornsea Royal British Legion and a former member of the steering committee which helped save the town’s Floral Hall from potential closure.
In his role as Poppy Appeal coordinator between 2011 and 2021, he helped raise more than £170,000 to help support the Armed Forces community.
The Marie Curie charity has also benefited from his efforts over the years, having raised more than £140,000 by helping with the Rotary Club’s annual national road running championships in aid of the charity.
Mr Twigg is also editor of Hornsea’s Talking Newspaper for the Blind and has just completed his ninth year as a church-appointed trustee of the Church Lands Trust.
Swanland’s Kai Adegbembo, a retired chief inspector with Humberside Police, has been awarded a MBE for services to education having been chair of governors at the Scarborough TEC further education college since 2018.
He is also vice-chair of the TEC Partnership, one of the largest further and higher education groups in England.
During his time in Scarborough, he has overseen an investment of £7m on the campus to create a new Automotive, Construction, and Engineering building and played a leading role in a task group managing the merger with East Riding College in 2020.
In his previous role with Humberside Police, he chaired the force’s diversity forum group for five years and went on to work nationally on diversity issues within the police.
North Yorkshire Chief Constable Lisa Winward, who started her police career with Humberside Police, has been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for distinguished service.
After initially serving as a special constable in York, she joined the Humberside force as a full-time regular officer in 1994 and worked her way through the ranks to become an inspector via a number of community and detective roles in the area.
She transferred to North Yorkshire in 2008 and became chief constable there a decade later.