THE First Church Estates Commissioner, Andreas Whittam
Smith CBE, who has held office since 2002, has been
appointed a Knight Bachelor in the Queen's Birthday Honours list,
announced last Friday. His honour is for public service,
particularly to the Church of England.
Among other knighthoods is one for the former Liberal Democrat
MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, Simon Hughes,
who was a minister in the coalition government, but lost his seat
in the General Election last month.
Two composers of importance for sacred music, Dr Karl
Jenkins CBE, who has set a number of religious texts, and
the Roman Catholic composer Dr James MacMillan
CBE, who has been outspoken about the quality of
liturgical music, besides contributing to the repertoire, also
receive knighthoods.
Among honours in the personal gift of the Queen is an LVO for
Canon Jonathan Riviere, Rural Dean of Heacham and
Rising, who is the Queen's Domestic Chaplain at Sandringham.
The conductor Sir Neville Marriner CBE, who
co-founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, so named because
its first concerts of Baroque string music on authentic instruments
were given in the church, is made a Companion of Honour.
Dr Loyd Grossman OBE, is appointed CBE in the
Honours list, for his services to heritage. Dr Grossman's wide
involvement in heritage matters includes a Fellowship of St
Deiniol's Library, Hawarden, and chairmanship of the Churches
Conservation Trust.
Also appointed CBE, for services to the Church of England, is
Christina Rees, a well-known writer, broadcaster,
and public speaker, and a long-serving member of the General Synod.
She formerly chaired the campaigning group WATCH (Women and the
Church).
Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop of the
Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK, is appointed OBE for his services
to international religious freedom. He accepted it gratefully, but
with, he said, "a sense of sadness that in the 21st century we
still need to defend people's God-given rights and freedoms in this
way".
Among the other OBEs is the author Karen
Armstrong, for services to literature and interfaith
dialogue. Many of her books are on comparative religion, and her
latest, Fields of Blood: Religion and the history of violence, was
published last year.
Also Canon Cynthia Dowdle, Dean of Women's
Ministry in Liverpool diocese, for services to gender equality and
social inclusion; Jack Hatch, head teacher of St
Bede's C of E Primary Academy, Bolton; the biblical textual scholar
Professor David Parker, Edward Cadbury Professor
of Theology at the University of Birmingham, who is currently
working on editions of St John's Gospel; and Professor
Susan Piotrowski, former Vice-chancellor and
Emeritus Professor of Canterbury Christ Church University. Both the
latter are honoured for services to higher education.
Among the MBEs are Margaret Ball, area manager
(Germany) of the Church of England Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's
Clubs, which runs coffee shops in Paderborn and Bielefeld, is
recognised for her services to Armed Forces personnel; and
Peter Chapman, a former chorister and lay canon of
St Paul's Cathedral, for services to St Paul's and to charity in
London; he is the co-founder of a trust that raised £40
million for the restoration of St Paul's.
After the reinterment of the remains of King Richard III in
Leicester Cathedral, there are MBEs for two historians for their
services to the exhumation and identification of the king,
Dr John Ashdown-Hill and Philippa
Langley.
Also the Revd Roger Redding, a retired priest
who is Chaplain to the Roma Gypsy and Traveller community, for
services to interfaith relations and to the community in the
south-west; Garry Reed, head teacher of Swimbridge
C of E Primary School, north Devon; Joyce Roberts,
who chairs the Liverpool C of E Council for Social Aid, for
services to the community, particularly women; Margot
Sampson, who chairs the Children's Society's fund-raising
committee in Winscombe Somerset (services to children);
Roger Speare, chairman of Emmaus Bolton, for
services to the community in Bolton; and the late Kate
(Coral Mary Patricia) Taylor, a local historian in west
Yorkshire, who was a lay canon of Wakefield Cathedral and worked
tirelessly for the Chantry Chapel. She died in May, aged 81.
In the Overseas and Diplomatic list, Christopher David
Wynn is appointed MBE for services to education and to the
Anglican Church in Papua New Guinea; as is the Bishop of
Banks & Torres, Vanuatu, in the Church of Melanesia,
the Rt Revd Nathan Tome, for services to aviation education, the
Church, and community development. In the military list, there is
an MBE for Prebendary Karl Freeman, of the Royal
Army Chaplains' Department Reserve, who is also Team Rector of
Emmanuel, St Paul Efford and St Augustine, Plymouth.
Among those awarded the British Empire Medal is Sister
Maureen Greaves CA, for services to the community in North
Sheffield, where she is a Church Army evangelist, and her late
husband, Alan, was an organist and Reader at St Saviour's, High
Green. He was murdered on Christmas Eve in 2012, and Sister Maureen
subsequently spoke of her forgiveness for the two men convicted of
his murder. "Alan is constantly in my thoughts and I continue to
miss the life that we shared together," she said on Saturday. "I am
amazed and humbled that the Queen should honour me in this way and
I accept it on behalf of both Alan and myself."
Among the others awarded the BEM are Lesley
Munt, who has been in charge of the Wednesday Lunch Club
at Brockenhurst Parish Church for 27 years, and has served 34,000
lunches to the elderly of the village; Donald
Roberts, for services to young people through swimming and
to bell-ringing in Torquay, where he has trained more than 100
ringers over the past 60 years, and has shown dedication to
Babbacombe Church and St Marychurch; Yvonne Lea
Rodgers, for services to the St Stephen's Drop-in Centre,
Twickenham; and Jonathan Venner, organist and
choirmaster of St Edward the Confessor, Romford, for services to
choral music.