New Year’s Honours 2021

The Lord-Lieutenant is thrilled that 15 individuals from Shropshire have been recognised in the 2020 New Year’s Honours list. She said “with Shropshire citizens being recognised for their contributions to business, the arts and to our community at both a national and local level it is a proud moment for all of us and I would like to congratulate them all for their incredible efforts”.

The Shropshire list of recipients are:

Ms Emma Jones MBE formerly from Shrewsbury and now based in London has been awarded the CBE for services to Small Business and Entrepreneurs. She is the founder of Enterprise Nation and has been a Small Business Representative for the Crown since 2016 working with government to improve the amount of money spent with small business.

Mrs Lynne Bradley from Richard’s Castle has been awarded an OBE for services to Plant Health.

For services to Defence.

An MBE has been awarded to Mrs Elizabeth Clarke of Hodnet Heath for her work as Director and Lead Nurse, Adult Critical Care and Major Trauma Operational Delivery Networks, Cheshire and Merseyside. Mrs Clarke worked tirelessly through the pandemic setting up systems to ensuring that patients from across Cheshire and Merseyside (including the Isle of Man) received the right care at the right time and that the region never ran out of ICU beds.

MBEs have also been awarded to Ms Halima Cassell, from Aston -upon-Clun for services to art. Ms Cassell is a successful artist working primarily in bronze and clay. She won the Sovereign Asian Art Prize in 2018 for her bronze ‘Acapella’ and her work can be seen in many public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

‘Acapella’ in bronze

Mr John Kirkpatrick of Bishop’s Castle has also been recognised with an MBE for his services to Folk Music. John Kirkpatrick has been singing, dancing and playing folk music since he was 12, working with some of the biggest bands in the folk scene including Steelye Span and the Albion Band. In 1975 he started the Morris side, The Shropshire Bedlams and their companion side Martha Rhoden’s Tuppeny Dish to help preserve the dance traditions of the welsh borders.

Shropshire Bedlams

Ms Kelda Wood from Westbury has also been awarded an MBE for services to charity. Kelda founded Climbing Out in 2010 after she suffered a serious leg injury which had a huge impact on her own life. Kelda represented Great Britain as a member of the GB Paracanoe squad, she became the first recorded adaptive female to summit Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America. She then went on to become the first para rower to row across the Atlantic Ocean in 2019, raising funds for Climbing Out and increasing awareness about mental and physical trauma.

Mr Roland Wycherley of Shrewsbury has been awarded an MBE for services to the community in Shrewsbury. Mr Wycherley has been the Chairman of Shrewsbury Town Football Club since 1996. Since he took over the Club has moved to its purpose-built stadium on Otley Road in Shrewsbury and has seen the successful development of its Youth Academy amongst other achievements.

Shropshire is a wonderful place to live and work and the community has particularly come together through the past year through the Covid-19 pandemic. Three individuals have been awarded a BEM for their services through the pandemic; Mrs June Walker of Stirchley for her services to the economy and to Mr and Mrs David English from Felton Butler have been recognised for their services to Social Care through the pandemic.

Coleham Pumping Statio

BEMs have also been awarded to 86-year-old Mr John MacLean of Leighton, Shrewsbury for his work for the past 25 years as the chief engineer of the Shrewsbury Steam Trust at the Coleham Pumping Station and to Mrs Gloria Beharrell of Bayston Hill who has been recognised for her charitable work in Shrewsbury, including raising over £145,000 for the Severn Hospice.  Mrs Jane Jervis of Shrewsbury has also been recognised for her extensive voluntary work and services to charity and Mr Malcolm Farrar from Oswestry who is Road Safety Officer with Shropshire Council has been awarded a BEM for his services to road safety.

Mrs Patricia Sharpe from Loppington has also been awarded an BEM for her services to British Gymnastics as a trampoline coach for 40 years. In 1999 she formed her own Trampoline Club and fundraised to build a dedicated Trampolining Centre based in Brentwood, Essex which is a unique, dedicated, fully inclusive facility for all ages and abilities.