MBE honour shows Paul’s work is top glass
HEATH Business And Technical Park’s scientific glassblower Paul Le Pinnet has been awarded an MBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours.
He was notified by the Cabinet Office in April, but said he had to keep the news secret from friends and family until the list was published on Saturday, June 11.
Paul, one of around 150 scientific glassblowers in the UK, stumbled into the profession by accident while training as a chemist.
After breaking glass vessels in experiments, he was told by a glassblower that he should learn how to fix them.
He went on to study at Manchester University before joining ICI and then with his employer, SOG Group.
Paul, of Warrington, works with research chemists, physicists and biochemists at his laboratory at The Heath, and has written scientific papers and contributed to symposiums.
A fellow of The British Society Of Scientific Glassblowers, he is writing a specialist technical book, commissioned by Imperial College Press.
Laboratory Scientific Glassblowing – A Practical Training Method is believed to be the first in its field for decades and will be published in print and digital and translated into other languages.
He joined SOG Group in 2000 and since then has been on assignments around the UK and the world, as well as displaying his skills to VIP visitors such as former Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, ex-foreign secretary William Hague and members of the Royal Family.
Paul celebrated his honour with a family meal at the weekend.
He said: “I’m so very proud to be the recipient of an MBE.
“This honour came totally out of the blue, I had no idea.
“When I opened the letter in April I was totally overwhelmed, I just couldn’t believe it.
“I did have to tell my wife, Michelle, as she was beside me when I read the letter and she saw my astonished reaction.
“We then had to keep it a secret until the official announcement. We didn’t tell anyone, not even our son.”
John Lewis, SOG Group managing director, said: “I and the entire team at SOG are absolutely delighted for Paul Le Pinnet. This is a thoroughly well-deserved award and recognition of his tremendous skill, dedication and service to the world of science over many years.”