Delight at New Year Honours
PEOPLE from across West Wales have been honoured in this year’s New Year Honours List.
The founder and managing director of Carmarthenshire transport and logistics firm Owens Group has been appointed the MBE.
Huw Owen has been given the Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to employment and to the community in Llanelli and South Wales.
Mr Owen said: “It is a great honour, totally unexpected. I am very humbled to receive it.
“It is a very special day for all the family, especially after the year that we have all come through.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication, commitment and hard work from every one at Owens Group”.
In Lampeter, Reverend
Goronwy Evans was appointed MBE for services to charity and to the community.
He is a pillar of the community who has ploughed his time into years of voluntary service to charitable causes and local groups.
He is responsible for the continued success of a host of local initiatives and has raised £1.1 million for Children in Need, something he has supported from the early 1980s.
He served as a Unitarian minister at Brondeifi Chapel, Lampeter, for 52 years before retirement.
He said: “I have always supported the community and been communityfocused so it’s nice to be recognised in this way.
“I’m shocked but honoured that people put my name forward.”
He was also chairman of the local branch of Cancer Research for over 20 years.
He served both primary and secondary schools as a governor for more than two decades, and he has regularly visited the residents of Hafan Deg care home for decades and is a member of the Friends of Hafan Deg Committee.
On top of all that, Reverend Evans was also secretary of Pantyfedwen Eisteddfod in Lampeter for 35 years and was secretary of the National Eisteddfod when held in the town in 1984.
He has also an acclaimed author and has written 11 books.
Elsewhere, Sandra May Morgan, who was the Conservative candidate for Llandybie in the 2017 Carmarthenshire Council local election, was given
the British Empire Medal (BEM) for political and public service in Wales.
And Lisa Randell, a support worker at Llys y Bryn Residential Home in Llanelli, has been awarded the BEM for dedication and determination throughout the Covid-19 crisis.
When the home experienced a significant outbreak of Covid-19, Lisa’s leadership skills were demonstrated in abundance at the most challenging of times.
Lisa, who has worked for Carmarthenshire Council for 11 years, said she couldn’t believe she had received this honour.
“It seems unreal, and I don’t really understand why,” she said. “I am doing a job I love and I can’t see what I have done any different to anyone else.
“It has been an horrendous few months. I am not sure how I did it (run the home), but I had so much support from my colleagues and we all did it as a team, everyone went over and above.”
This is the second British Empire Medal for Llys y Bryn as manager Lyndsay Mcnicholl was also recognised for her work during the Covid-19 pandemic in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.