The Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021 recognises the unsung heroes of the pandemic and sees some of the north-east’s Covid workers honoured.
The system gives national recognition to people who have given exceptional service in public and community life and are committed to helping people around them.
This year the usual celebrities, sports stars, politicians, and business leaders have been joined by caters, chefs, train drivers and community volunteers who have been honoured for their hard work supporting NHS staff and vulnerable people during the pandemic.
Showing dedication to helping others was charity worker Mahtab Morovat (Matti) who has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for charitable service in Sunderland. Ms Morovat worked tirelessly for the Fightback Charity for 12 years on behalf of marginalised people. She is the only member of the charity’s part time staff who has worked full time every day including weekends for the first four months of lockdown to support the vulnerable and those affected by Covid.
Ms Morovat was amazed to discover she had been nominated. She said: “I am absolutely delighted and humbled to receive this award – I was really shocked when they contacted me.” Adding that her work would not have been possible without her support system. She said: “It is about teamwork. Everybody at Fightback has been involved,”
Fightback provides a range of practical, social, and educational services and activities to vulnerable people who experience disadvantage due to disability, language, immigration status or ethnicity. The charities holistic one stop approach aims to involve, support, and engage these marginalized and disadvantaged individuals, to facilitate autonomy, build confidence, reduce social isolation, promote social inclusion and community cohesion. Fightback also provides much needed food parcels to anyone in need.
A local well known restauranteur has also been recognised for the food he provided is Tarek Thoma who has been awarded a BEM for services to the community and key workers in Middlesbrough during the Covid pandemic.
Mr Thoma opened The Oven restaurant in Middlesbrough in 2015, creating 35 jobs, with his investment being part of the successful regeneration of the Central Point area. A talented chef who worked at Michelin-starred restaurants including the L’Escargot in London and Chapter One in Kent, he famously cooked for George Bush during the former US president’s visit to Co. Durham in 2003.
The 55year old provided 150 meals a day for frontline staff at James Cook Hospital and he also hopes to continue with his support for those in need into the future. Mr Thoma explained that profits from his business had been ploughed back into fresh meals for NHS staff, and alongside this he and his team also delivered ready meals to three different women’s refuges and children’s homes.
He said: “Community work is something we do not usually advertise but during the pandemic we put it out on social media. We wanted to extend our hand to anyone we could help because we had the time, and we had the food.”
Responding to his award Mr Thoma said: “Just to be nominated is enough for me, but to receive a BEM is mindboggling.”
The work of those in the NHS has also been acknowledged, including Rachael Moses who has been awarded an OBE for services to the NHS. Since 2015 she has worked as Consultant Physiotherapist leading a multidisciplinary team providing excellent care to people with breathing difficulties and respiratory muscle weakness. Rachael is widely recognised for her exceptional knowledge and skills in invasive and non-invasive ventilation, airway clearance techniques and tracheostomy care.
Swapping tracks for scrubs was north-east train driver, Jolene Miller from Stockton, who worked as a paramedic during the COVID-19 outbreak and has been awarded a BEM for her services to the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ms Miller said: “It’s been so surreal, I can’t believe it, I’m really proud but still in shock. There’s still lots of people I know working in the NHS and fighting coronavirus day in day out while I spent a few months working back in a hospital.”
Sunderland-born footballer Jordan Henderson has been awarded an MBE for services to football and charity during the coronavirus pandemic. The England player captained Liverpool to Champions League success in 2019 and the Premier League title in the disrupted 2019-20 campaign. Off the field, he also had a leading role in the #PlayersTogether initiative announced in early April last year at the height of the coronavirus pandemic which saw football and other sports all come to a halt. Through his efforts the ex-Sunderland star raised £4 million for the NHS from fellow premier league players.
The Premier League footballer said he was “humbled” by the award but insisted that he was only part of a movement with his Premier League counterparts and dedicated his award to NHS staff.
Another sports personality to be honoured is Iain Nairn who has been awarded an MBE for services to physical disabilities cricket. Iain has been an integral part of the England Physical Disabilities cricket squad for eight years, five of those as Captain before retiring from international cricket at the end of 2019. He was a mentor to younger players and helped them to develop their interpersonal skills and personalities outside of the game.
Away from sport business leaders have been honoured for the part they played during the pandemic. Helen Golightly has been awarded an OBE for services to business and the regional economy. Through her leadership of the North-East Local Enterprise Partnership, and in the wake of COVID-19, Ms Golightly played a leading role in the region’s coordinated response to the pandemic, bringing together the region’s combined authorities, universities, the CBI and the NE Joint Transport Committee to form the NE COVID-19 Economic Response Group.
The theme of bringing people together was behind the MBE awarded to Lisa Goodwin, Chief Executive of Connected Voice for services to vulnerable people during the pandemic. Ms Goodwin brought organisations together to work collaboratively with each other and partnered with Newcastle City Council to set up new volunteer service, ‘City LifeLine’ to support vulnerable people self-isolating and community organisations.
Brian Jones from Stockton and co-founder of the charity the Moses Project has been awarded a BEM for his work providing guidance and mentoring to young men with addictions to drugs and alcohol. During the pandemic, the 68-year-old delivered food until late at night to the frail, the financially pressured and those affected by Covid-19.
