New Year’s honours for community champions

Two community champions in Bristol have been named in the 2016 New Year’s Honours list for their hard work looking after the elderly and supporting local charities.

Sandra White, from Shirehampton, is to get a British Empire Medal for services to elderly people, while Ian Beattie, from Stoke Bishop, will be given an OBE for services to charity and the community.

Sandra setup the Penpole Lunch Club, on The Ridge, for the elderly in 1998 which she still manages and picks up its 35 regular attendees in a mini bus at the age of 70.

She plans the weekly meals, including both doing the shopping for the ingredients and the actual preparation and cooking. For special occasions like Christmas and Easter she puts on a special meal and invites guests of honour such as the lord mayor.

At Christmas time, she also helps the LinkAge Club with their meal, which is held at Tythe Barn, also in Shirehampton.

She told Bristol24/7: “When I first got the letter I thought it was a wind up immediately. It was a big shock, but I’m happy. I enjoy what I do anyway. It gets harder because I’m 70 now, but I don’t want to give up yet.”

Ian, 76, is a former committee chairman of Sneyd Park Residents’ Association, where he led a fight to protect the area from over development and helped preserve local woodland.

He has been a member of the Rotary Club since 1990, and in 2002 he raised funds for an educational bus which toured Bristol to promote healthy living and encouraged people to turn away from drugs and alcohol.

In 2006, Ian set up Run for the Future, an annual 5k run which raised nearly £300,000 in seven years for prostate cancer research.

He said: “It came as a total shock to me when I found out about the MBE. I never pushed for anything like this, but I’m feeling very, very honoured. It’s incredible and it still hasn’t sank in.

“I’ve just always liked getting involved with things in the community – it just comes naturally – but I never thought it would come to this.”

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The director of Bristol-based arts producer Situations has been awarded an MBE for services to the arts in the New Year’s Honours list.

Claire Doherty (above) has developed Situations from its genesis within UWE to become one of the UK’s foremost producers of arts projects outside conventional venues, its most recent being Theaster Gates’ Sanctum in the bombed out ruin of Temple Church.

“I am both surprised and touched to receive this honour,” Claire said. “It is testament to the commitment, passion and vision of everyone at Situations, our artists, partners and volunteers and the faith of our funders, that our work has been recognised in this way. It’s a privilege to work which such extraordinary talent.”