OBE FOR SAM
New Year Honours:
RUGBY star Sam Warburton leads scores of Welsh recipients in this year’s New Year’s Honours list.
The 29-year-old Wales international, who captained the British and Irish Lions for a second time in the summer, has been awarded the Order of the British Empire.
Joining the Cardiff Blues flanker on the honours list are Welsh police officers, ambulance staff, charity workers, politicians, teachers, soldiers, scientists and volunteers.
Warburton’s coach at the Blues, Danny Wilson, said he was a “great role model”.
“It’s a fantastic recognition of a player who has done all there is to do in the game,” said Wilson. “He’s captained the Lions twice on two successful tours. He’s a great role model in terms of how to act professionally and he’s got an edge that you need.
“But away from the rugby field he’s got time for everybody. He’s a really nice person and a good man.”
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns added his tribute, describing him as an “inspiration to millions”.
The oldest people to be honoured are 101-year-olds Lieu- tenant Colonel Mordaunt Cohen, who receives an MBE for services to WWII education, and Helena Jones, who is given a British Empire Medal for services to young people and the community in Brecon, Powys.
Lucia Mee, 18, is the youngest to be recognised, with a British Empire Medal for her work raising awareness of organ donation.
Former Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan, 65, has become a Dame. Mrs Gillan, who was at the Wales Office from 2010 until 2012, is vice-chairman of the influential 1922 committee of backbench MPs.
Swansea-born Dr Cerys Rees, of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, was awarded an OBE for establishing a world-class facility for the analysis of chemical and biological weapons. Results of Dr Rees’ work have had a significant influence on UK government diplomacy, most recently in Syria.
Former deputy presiding officer David Melding was awarded a CBE, which he said was “out of the blue” and “amazing”.
The South Wales Central Conservative AM has been a key intellectual influence on the Tories in Wales and has also taken a keen interest in the welfare of looked-after children.
He said he learned of the award after “I’d just come back from the garage, having paid a very heavy car repair bill. The day ended much better than I thought it would at that stage”.
An army veteran who has helped train thousands of rugby referees after being injured on tour in Afghanistan has been awarded an MBE. John Voss, 50, from Rhoose, near Barry, broke his back while in Helmand Province in 2012 so he turned to his other love, rugby, and has now helped to train more than 3,000 military referees.
“My passion is giving somebody a chance in life to just do things,” he said.
The new Chief Constable of South Wales Police has been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal.
Matt Jukes described the honour as a “tremendous privilege”, saying “it really reflects the hard-working and dedicated officers and staff that I have been so fortunate to work with”.
One of his officers was also honoured – 30 years after his father received a similar accolade.
Sergeant Gary Evans has been awarded the British Empire Medal, 30 years after his late father, Bob Evans, was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal.
Sgt Evans is the officer behind the successful Cardiff Commu-
nity Cohesion Cup, which has used football, cricket and cooking to build trust and confidence in the police among black and minority ethnic groups.
Superintendent Lee Porter, a former soldier, who has run the Wales Extremism and Counter Terrorism Unit (WECTU), was also awarded the Queen’s Police Medal (QPM).
Retired head teacher Sue Hollister has been appointed as a Member of the British Empire.
Mrs Hollister, who worked at Cefn Hengoed Community School for 10 years, says she was “honoured and humbled”.
The school was under-performing before Mrs Hollister took charge, and her leadership is credited with turning its fortunes around to such an extent that it was found to be excellent in all 15 aspects of its latest Estyn inspection.
Paediatric oncology nurse Rowena Wendy Jones, who works at Carmarthen’s Glangwili Hospital, has been given the MBE for her services to sick and disabled children and end-of-life care.
Mrs Jones, 62, from Aberaeron, has devoted her career to caring for children and young people with cancer, and said she feels “a bit of a fraud” for being rewarded for “doing a job I love”.
Husband and wife Bernard and Patricia George, of Hakin in Milford Haven, were both given the British Empire Medal for their work raising £365,000 for the Withybush Hospital Chemotherapy Day Unit.
Mr George, 67, says that he was “really shocked”.
Along with his wife, Patricia, 64, he set up a fundraising shop to raise money after experiencing the “wonderful support” given to their family.
Kidwelly car dealer David Gravell also received the British Empire Medal for his services to charity, sport and education.
His son, Jonathan, said he had raised more than £500,000 for charity.
He said: “He’s been a trustee of Ray Gravell charitable foundation, president of Llanelli Male Voice Choir, Cor Dyffryn Tywi, supported Morriston Orpheus choir and many more local groups and activities.”
Jon Morgan is to receive an OBE for his services to Disability Sport in Wales.
The Caerphilly-schooled Swansea resident has served as the development officer for the Sports Council of Wales, the vicechairman for the Commonwealth Games Council for Wales, and recently stepped down as CEO of Disability Sport Wales after 15 years.
Since his appointment in 2002, grassroots participation opportunities increased across Wales from 1,200 to more than 1.4 million per year by 2016.
The Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor at Swansea University has been rewarded for services to Microbiology and the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering.
Professor Hilary Lappin-Scott, who lives in SA1, says she was “thrilled and over the moon” to be named in the New Year’s Honours list.
And a professor at Cardiff University, who grew up fascinated by fast cars and the moon landings, has been awarded a CBE for her work helping to advance women in science and engineering.
Professor Karen Holford had a successful career as an engineer, including developing products for Jaguar Land Rover, before going into academia, and after a stint as head of the School of Engineering, she’s now Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University.
Three Welsh Ambulance Service workers have been recognised for their service.
Chairman Mick Giannasi has been awarded a CBE, while clinical data specialist Kath Charters and advanced paramedic practitioner Roger John have been awarded the Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal.
RINGO Starr said it is “an honour and a pleasure” to be awarded a knighthood, 52 years after receiving an MBE with the “Fab Four”.
The Beatles drummer, one of the last two surviving members of the band, is recognised in the New Year Honours list for his services to music.
In a short message, signed off with his trademark phrase, Starr said: “It’s great! It’s an honour and a pleasure to be considered and acknowledged for my music and my charity work, both of which I love. Peace and love. Ringo.”
Starr – whose real name is Richard Starkey – would have been knighted years ago if Sir Paul McCartney had his way.
After he was missed off the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2011, Sir Paul told Absolute Radio it was “about time” that Starr was knighted.
Sir Paul, who received his honour in 1997, said he would have told the Queen “look, love, Sir Richard Starkey – it’s got a ring”.
Starr, 77, is undoubtedly one of the nation’s most eminent musicians as a member of the band that took the world by storm in the early 1960s.
Although often overshadowed by the utter star quality of his costars McCartney and the late John Lennon and George Harrison, his impact on the band’s music was vital and he is regarded as one of the most talented drummers of his generation.
Lennon often used Starr’s common original expressions – fondly referred to as Ringoisms – such as A Hard Day’s Night and Tomorrow Never Knows and turned them into songs.
Starr was born on July 7 1940 in the working class Dingle area of Liverpool.
Much of his childhood was affected by illness and his frequent visits to hospital, for appendicitis and tuberculosis among other ailments, caused his education to suffer.
It was during his blighted youth that he developed a love of music and a knack for playing the drums.
Starr met The Beatles in Hamburg in 1960 and two years later he replaced the band’s drummer Pete Best, a takeover that was controversial at the time.
Following the band’s split in 1970 after a decade of recording pop classics and touring the world, Starr released two albums before the end of that year, Sentimental Journey and country-style effort Beaucoups Of Blues.
He achieved success with his 1973 album Ringo, which peaked at number seven in the UK and number two in the US, although he is the only Beatle to have failed to top the UK singles chart as a solo artist.
Over the years, Starr has continued with his solo career and has released 19 studio albums, the latest being 2017’s Give More Love.
In 1984, Starr became the narrator for children’s TV series Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends, an effort that went on to become a huge success.
Starr’s knighthood comes more than half a century after he and the other Beatles received MBEs in 1965.
That same MBE is the one rejected four years later by Lennon, who wrote a letter to the Queen saying: “Your Majesty I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the chart.”
Another accolade bestowed upon Starr was his election into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2015, after previously being inducted with The Beatles in 1988.
Starr lives in Los Angeles and rarely visits Liverpool, the residents of which he upset several years ago when he said that he did not miss anything about his home city, prompting a statue of him to be vandalised.
Asked by chat show host Jonathan Ross in 2008 if he missed anything about the city, Starr replied: “Uh, no.”
He added: “No, I love Liverpool, I was a child – I grew up in Liverpool, family members are in Liverpool but ... you know.”
In 2011, Starr apologised for his comments, telling the BBC that he was sorry to Liverpudlians. He added that he thought “no real Scouser took offence” to his remarks and that it was “silly that whoever took offence took offence”.
Starr has three children with his first wife Maureen Cox, to whom he was married from 1965 until 1975: Zak –a renowned drummer in his own right – Jason and Lee.
In 1980, he met actress Barbara Bach on the set of the film Caveman, and they married in 1981.