New Year’s Honour for swimming stalwart
Residents to receive MBEs and Empire Medals
Pamela Morgan, who ran Scarborough’s disabled swimming club for 36 years, has been awarded a New Year Honour.
A Scarborough resident who distinguished herself for her efforts to allow disabled people to enjoy the benefits of swimming has been recognised by the Queen in the New Year’s Honours List.
Pamela Morgan, 81, from Osgodby, will receive a BEM – British Empire Medal – for services to Open Water and Disabled Swimming.
Pamela ran the Scarborough Disabled Swimming Club for more than 36 years while also supporting other charities such as the NSPCC, Mencap, Scarborough Hospital League of Friends and Epilepsy Action.
She said: “It’s been my life. I could swim when I was a few months old and my parents were charity workers so I guess it’s in the family.
“We used to go up to Whitby for galas and races and to see somebody who can’t walk, who’s blind or mentally handicapped enjoy being in the water and having a good time is very, very rewarding.
“Everybody loved coming along and we tried to make it the same as what other people would be doing.”
In 1977 Pamela’s son David swam across the English Channel aged only 13. On the back of that, the Scarborough Long Distance Swimming Club was founded – Pamela ran it for 30 years – and in 1987 a junior team
completed a record two-way crossing.
Speaking about the BEM, Pamela added: “It was quite a shock after all these years, they say good things come to those who wait but I never expected it.
“Everything I did was because I enjoyed it and I still keep in touch with charities and carry on giving and donating if I can.”
Also recognised for the positive impact they had on their local communities are people in Filey and Ryedale.
James Cliffe, 35, fro m Filey, is the manager of No Wrong Door, at Stepney Children’s Centre, Scarborough, and will receive an MBE for services to Children and Young People – see page 23 for more on James.
In Ryedale, Robin Andrews, 76, of Nunnington, was the director of Ryedale Festival from 2006 and chair of the festival from 2010, both unpaid positions. He has been awarded the MBE for helping make it the largest rural music festival in the country and helping place it on a sound financial footing.
James Cundall, of Welburnbased Lunchbox Productions, will also receive an MBE.
The 61-year-old is CEO of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, which created Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre in York, thrilling audiences last summer.
Born near Malton, Mr Cundall lives in Westow. Another season in the “pop up” Rose Theatre, made from scaffolding in an Elizabethan style and placed in the car park next to Clifford’s Tower, will return next year.
Joy Hudson, 70, from Norton, has been involved with Malton and Old Malton Cricket Club for decades and was instrumental in saving it from insolvency as well as securing £300,000 worth of funding for a new clubhouse.
In the last two years she has also been raising money to rebuild the cricket pavilion after it was destroyed by arsonists. She will be awarded a BEM for services to Sport and the Community.
Joy said: “It’s a nice thing but I think there are people who deserve it more than me.
“You don’t do it for publicity, I did it for my family and for traditions.”