Meet the people the Queen has honoured (From Worcester News)

Meet the people the Queen has honoured

12:10am Thursday 31st December 2009 in

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A WOMAN who has dedicated her life to Worcester’s St Richard’s Hospice were among those honoured by the Queen today.

Jeannie Young – the driving force behind the hospice and a stalwart volunteer – was made an MBE in today’s New Year’s Honours list.

The 71-year-old, of Tibberton, near Droitwich, has been involved in the Worcester hospice, which cares for people with terminal illness, since it was established in 1984. She was a trustee for 23 years and an influential chair of trustees for six.

She played a significant role when the charity announced plans for a new 15-bed hospice in Wildwood Way, Worcester, including launching an appeal to raise funds, giving speeches at fund-raising events, supervising a business plan. She then helped with securing planning permission, designing the hospice and overseeing the actual building work.

Mrs Young stepped down as a trustee two years ago, but is still an active volunteer.

She said: “I’m thrilled because it’s bringing the work of St Richard’s to the fore. I always find accolades slightly difficult because I’m only a part of the whole. This is for the whole team. I couldn’t do the work I do without everyone else around me.”

Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Mrs Young, whose MBE is for voluntary services to St Richard’s, drives patients to and from appointments or sits with them.

Mrs Young, who trained as a midwife and worked as a night nurse at the old Worcester Infirmary, even trained as a chiropodist when the hospice identified a need for one.

Among the other 900 people who volunteer for St Richard’s is Mrs Young’s husband Robert. Mrs Young said: “I wouldn’t know where I was without him. I couldn’t get by without my family.”

This year, your Worcester News teamed up with St Richard’s hospice to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

St Richard’s needs £4.8 million a year to provide free services to 1,800 patients and their families.

Find out more at strichards.

org.uk. To donate, visit just giving.com/wn4strichards.

Fellow St Richard’s fund-raiser Angela Green, from Malvern, also received an MBE. Mrs Green, of Wedderburn Road, has been raising money for various charities for 14 years.

The 52-year-old civil servant said: “I know everyone says it’s a complete shock and they had no idea, but no one ever really expects to be recognised for an honour like this.”

Mrs Green has filled millions of shoeboxes to send to children, mainly in Eastern Europe, through Operation Christmas Child and also raises money for Macmillan Cancer Support and St Richard’s, baking her own cakes to raise money.

She has also taken part in fund-raising events at Christ Church, Malvern, where she worships – the most recent to raise £96,000 for a new spire.

Mrs Green, who is married and has a 14-year-old son, said: “It’s great to help people. I’ve always enjoyed it. Raising money for Macmillan always gets a lot of respect, because it’s such a worthwhile charity.

“I want to stress that I don’t do it all on my own. It’s embarassing when all this praise is heaped on you personally.”

A dentist from Sinton Green, near Worcester, has also been made an MBE.

Dr Janet Clarke, who recently completed six years as chairman of the British Dental Association’s central committee for community and public health dentistry, was given the honour for her services to healthcare.

Dr Clarke, who lives with her husband David and two children, said she was thrilled to hear the news. “It is a great honour and I’m delighted,” she said.

Dr Clarke qualified as a dentist from Birmingham University in 1981 and obtained her Masters in Community Dental Health in 1989. She has a diploma in Health Services Management. She is also clinical director of the salaried dental service in Birmingham and currently deputy director of the Provider Services in Heart of Birmingham teaching PCT.

“I helped negotiate a verypopular pay scheme for salaried dentists and this was the first time it had been done. We are a special group of dentists who look after patients with special needs, working with children and adults who may also have disabilities and are employed by the NHS,”

Another healthcare worker, John Rostill, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, was awarded an OBE.

Mr Rostill, 62, who has been in the healthcare profession for 45 years, said: “I am delighted and deeply touched by this honour, which I am pleased to accept on behalf of all the talented and visionary colleagues I have enjoyed working with in the NHS – and those I have yet to meet.

“Receiving this award is undoubtedly one of the highlights of my career so far, but the future has much to offer.”

Mr Rostill, a father of two who lives in Halesowen, West Midlands, said: “The chance to play a part, however modest, in the huge achievements of the NHS has been its own reward.”

Mr Rostill said he was particularly looking forward to moving Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust into Foudation Trust status, striving for even higher standards of safety, cleanliness and care, embedding the principles of the NHS constitution and facing the financial challenges.

Michael O’Riordan, chairman of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “I cannot think of anyone more deserving of such an award than John Rostill. His undiminished enthusiasm and dedication to the NHS is a shining example to everyone in the health service.”

AN OBE was also awarded to former chairman of West Mercia Police Authority and University of Worcester alumnus Paul Deneen for services to the community in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Graduating as a teacher from Worcester in 1978, Mr Deneen has been involved in education, policing, law and health care.

He stepped down as chairman of the police authority in July, having been active in the debate on restructuring police forces. He is a Herefordshire magistrate, chairing both the adult and youth courts, and is vice-chairman of Powys and Herefordshire Magistrates’ Association.

He has campaigned for a community hospital and worked at a Citizens’ Advice Bureau in Ross-on-Wye.

Mr Deneen, who has taught at a Ross school for nearly 30 years, has chaired the BBC Hereford and Worcester Advisory Council and Independent Board of Visitors at HM Prison Gloucester. He was also appointed as a non-executive director of the Herefordshire Primary Care Trust In 2006 he also received an honorary degree from the University of Worcester in recognition of his work in the community.

Meanwhile, Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service’s chief fire officer Paul Hayden receives the Queen’s Fire Service Medal in recognition of his distinguished service.

He has been a prime mover in developing a national centralised command and control system when floods hit.

In November Mr Hayden, who has been the two counties’ top fire officer since 2005, helped coordinate flood rescue and relief efforts from a command centre in the north of England.

He and service colleague area manager Paul Amos were part of the National Flood Support Team helping the huge rescue operation in Cumbria after storms hit.

Mr Hayden and his team were also highly praised following the devestating floods in summer 2007 across Worcestershire and the UK after helping get vital equipment to the areas where it was most needed.

He set up the national flood support team at the service’s headquarters in Charles Hastings Way, in Worcester, during the period.

Mr Hayden also spent more than a year researching how fire services could better respond to enivronmental disasters and is a government agency adviser on emergency flood relief.