These are the unsung heroes from the North East who are being honoured for their hard work.
A number of people from our region have been named in the King’s New Year Honours List 2025. Some have shown great determination in their sector of work while others have been working to improve life in their community for years.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Each and every day, ordinary people go out and do extraordinary things for their communities. They represent the very best of the UK and that core value of service which I put at the centre of everything this government does. The New Year Honours List celebrates more of these unsung heroes, and I thank them for their incredible contribution.”
Below, we have outlined just some of the inspirational stories of North East award recipients – you can see all the North East people recognised here. Among the honours received are MBEs and BEMs.
Joanne Smith – MBE
The 53-year-old, from Gateshead, gets an MBE for services to people affected by cancer. In 2008, she was inspired to set up FACT (Fighting All Cancers Together) to provide support services for those affected by cancer in the North East, free of charge and without the need for referral.
The charity now operates from a dedicated cancer support centre, helping 2,500 people and provides support and guidance for cancer sufferers, their family and carers. FACT’s services are delivered by qualified personnel offering counselling/talking therapies, a wig service, group pilates, walking groups, nutritional advice, financial and benefit advice, and education and awareness sessions.
Under her leadership, FACT is now one of the voluntary organisations delivering the national NHS England programme, ‘Living with and beyond cancer’ in the North East and had an agreement with the Rutherford Cancer Centre to deliver counselling and complementary therapies for its patients. The number of people accessing FACT’s services continues to grow each year with a 42% increase from 8,000 in 2017 to 12,670 in 2018 and reaching an additional 20,000 through education and awareness sessions as part of community engagement. Joanne organises kindness kits for those who need support and instigated the annual Christmas Hamper appeal for families where the diagnosis of cancer has affected them financially.
Keep up to date with all the latest breaking news and top stories from the North East with our free newsletter
Calvin Kipling – MBE
The 52-year-old, from Ferryhill, has been awarded an MBE for services to education. He was appointed headteacher at Branksome and Science College in Darlington in 2010 when the school was in the bottom 1% nationally.
He overhauled its curriculum and facilities, invested in staff, and worked tirelessly to rebuild its reputation in the community. As a result, the school secured a position among the best 17% of schools in England and was recognised nationally, receiving the Prince’s Teaching Institute School Leadership Programme award, whilst he was named North East headteacher of the year in 2014.
After five years he became Darlington Virtual School Head (VSH), where he has been at the forefront of improving outcomes for care experienced young people. His work has directly impacted outcomes; in 2014, 45% of care leavers in Darlington were in full-time education, employment, or training. By 2022 this had risen to 80%, compared to a national average of 55% and 52% regionally; some of the best outcomes in England. In Darlington’s most recent Ofsted inspection the virtual school was specifically recognised, highlighting that care experienced children are cared about, listened to, and are taken seriously and valued.
Leslie Scott – MBE
The 78-year-old, of Sunderland, has been recognised for political and public service. The award details say: “He has been a committed public servant to the city of Sunderland over many decades.
“This has been both through stretches in local government and through a range of community and charity work. He was a long serving Sunderland Councillor, representing St Chad’s Ward for 29 years, and served as Deputy Leader of Sunderland Council between 1990 and 1994.
“He also served as Mayor of Sunderland between 2007-2008. He has been a member of the Labour Party for over 62 years and served as a member of the Labour North Regional Executive Committee for over 10 years. He is one of the three chairs of the Sunderland Sports Fund that has supported many Sunderland sports people over a number of years. This includes Olympic medallists Tony Jeffries, Kat Driscoll, Alyson Dixon and Matt Wylie.
“Les has also been a major fundraiser for Sunderland AFC’s charity arm – the Foundation of Light, Salvation Army & MacMillan Cancer Support. The foundation delivers over 40 programmes across the region, supporting over 20,000 people from all walks of life, to live happier and healthier lives.”
Mark George Alexander – MBE
An MBE goes to Mark Alexander, 53, of Morpeth, for services to promoting socio-economic diversity. Over the past five years, he has used his personal experiences, dedication and integrity to drive a tangible shift in Social Mobility (SM) within DWP.
He co-leads the DWP SM Network which he founded in 2019. He was pivotal in developing the DWP SM Strategy. By 2023 this resulted in over 75% of colleagues (an increase of over 30% since 2020) formally sharing their socio-economic background, fulfilling a recommendation from the State of the Nation report.
He also helped plan and run the 2021 ‘You Can’ campaign, which saw over 7,000 colleagues provided with personal development upskilling on progression. He is actively supporting the DWP Mentor Match (MM) Team in developing MM to be DWPs one-stop shop for mentoring. In 2022 his achievements were recognised with the Silver Award for Mentor of the Year at the UK’s SM Awards.
Sirkka-Liisa Roberts (Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen) – MBE
Photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen
(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
The 76-year-old, from Tynemouth, has earned an MBE for services to photography. She has worked in Britain since the 1960s, best known for her work documenting working-class life in the North East. Her work is held in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Tate and the UK Memory of the World Register.
She studied photography in London in the 1960s, and cofounded the Amber collective, which moved to the North East in 1969. From 1969 she lived in Byker, and for a decade photographed and interviewed residents of terraced houses until her own was demolished. This resulted in the book Byker, which in David Alan Mellor’s words bore witness to her intimate embeddedness in the locality.
In 1980 she became the first photographer since the Cultural Revolution to have her work exhibited by the British Council in China. Her next project was a study of girls attending dance schools in North Shields, their mothers, and the schools. The book Step by Step came from this. The book was an influence for the film Billy Elliot.
Three years of photographing the beach between Seaham and Hartlepool resulted in the series ‘Coal Coast’. In 1992 she was awarded the Grand Prix at the Melbourne International Film Festival and the Prix du Documentaire, Cinéma du Réel, Paris for the film The Writing in the Sand.
She is also co-founder of the Amber Film and Photography Collective, based in Newcastle and the Side Gallery, a group of social documentary photographers and filmmakers who, for over fifty years, have devoted themselves to long term engagement with the working class and marginalized communities in the north east of England.
Here are all the stories we have published on King Charles’ New Year Honours for 2025:
Lesley Anne Scott – MBE
An MBE goes to Lesley Anne Scott, 55, from Cramlington, for charitable services. She has spent ten years selflessly devoting her time to rescuing and caring for dogs from the dog meat trade in Thailand and China.
The citation says: “Having been brought to tears in 2014 by a video showing the horrors of the dog meat trade in Thailand, she decided she had to help so she jumped on a plane to volunteer at a rescue facility caring for dog meat trade survivors. When dog meat was banned in Thailand she decided to volunteer in China, which she describes as a life-changing experience as it was while there that she rescued her first dog, Grace, a longhaired dachshund who had been sold into the meat trade.
“When the pandemic hit, she took the opportunity to think about how she could take her rescue work a step further. This was the spark for her founding Dog Meat Trade Dachshund Rescue & Support Group (DMT DRSG) on 12 May 2020, which since September 2021 has been a registered National charity.
“Since founding the National Charity, DMT DRSG in 2020 she has dedicated her spare time to establishing and growing the charity, showing enormous commitment to rescuing as many dogs as possible and organising and attending an ongoing programme of fundraising events across the country to enable rescue missions to proceed.
“Through her leadership the charity achieved two significant milestones, over two hundred dogs rescued and £1 million raised. Her passion and determination have ensured the charity has continued to grow since its inception, with 60 dogs rescued and 61 transported to forever homes in the UK and 31 fundraising events between June 2022 and May 2023. She now has a team of volunteers working alongside her, many of them with day jobs like herself, but all devoting countless hours to the charity.”
Madeline Howard – MBE
Madeline, 28, from Newcastle, is being honoured for services to cyber security. She joined Cynam (the cyber cluster for Cheltenham and Gloucester) in 2017 as a volunteer. She convinced Cynam to champion work in diversity and inclusion.
As a result, she was asked by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help define their work developing a Cyber Schools Hub Pilot, in response to the need for a Cyber Education resource. This has become the Cyber First Schools programme, going from no presence in schools to now having 700 schools involved and reaching 100,00 pupils.
In 2018 she created and led a high-profile event at Cheltenham Science Festival, working with the NCSC and Industry partners. Over 400 people came and met Industry and Academia to find out more about opportunities in cyber, hearing from women in the field.
She delivered the first Empower event in Gloucestershire in 2019, involving 800, Year 8 girls from 40 schools. These events are now an integral part of Cyber First, taking place across the UK and attract large numbers from a range of schools, from disadvantaged areas, ensuring young girls can see the exciting possibilities of a cyber career with hands-on activities and inspirational talks.
Margaret Kirby – MBE
Margaret, 61, of Backworth, receives an MBE for services to the law and to vulnerable people. The charity she started, Legacare, gives free legal support and she set it up to be able to provide this assistance for vulnerable terminally ill people and their families.
She encourages legal firms and universities to allow trainees and students to have work experience at the charity. She also uses her influence with large public and private companies to financially support the charity to reach even more people; over 7,500 have been assisted to date. She continues to visit individuals in need and may arrive as a legal advisor but quickly turn into a social worker.
The award details say: “She helps bring peace and dignity to patients with a terminal diagnosis while allowing others to focus on fighting their illnesses and getting better without the stress of dealing with outstanding legal issues. She has variously arranged funerals when the deceased has had no next of kin or wider family, arranged for beloved pets to be rehomed, even fostering some herself for periods of time.”
Alison Pamela Murdoch – MBE
Alison Murdoch
(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
The 73-year-old, from Wylam, is being honoured for services to fertility treatment. Now retired, she has been a consultant gynaecologist and clinical head at the Newcastle Fertility Centre at the Centre for Life as well as Professor of Reproductive Medicine at Newcastle University.
She established the Fertility Clinic at the Centre for Life which has provided outstanding fertility services for patients of the North East for 30 years. She has led the debate nationally in terms of ethical, political and regulatory issues around embryo research.
Together with Mary Herbert, she succeeded in pioneering new discoveries and applications of direct benefit to families. They derived the first embryonic stem cell line in the UK and were the first team in the world to be granted a licence to do nuclear transfer for therapeutic cloning.
She was influential in the development of the famous ‘three parent baby’ concept, allowing mothers with a mitochondrial disorder to bear their own children by moving the nucleus of their embryo to a donor embryonic cell whose mitochondria work normally.
The award details say: “She has been at the forefront of challenging ethical issues such as human stem cell research and mitochondrial donation. She led on these issues nationally and this has had important consequences for patients, as shown by the fact that Newcastle remains the only fertility Centre in the UK with a clinical licence for Mitochondrial Donation.”
Judith Barbara Hartley – MBE
An MBE goes to Judith Hartley, 59, of Durham, for services to business. She has worked for British Business Bank and its predecessor organisation, Capital for Enterprise Ltd (CfE), for more than 14 years, contributing significantly to its success and growth over the years.
She joined CfE in 2009, at the height of the 2008 Financial Crisis. Her role was to help build and implement the Enterprise Finance Guarantee to help support businesses.
In 2012, she worked with Lord Young and colleagues in BEIS to launch the Start Up Loans Company (SUL). She led on the accreditation of SUL’s first tranche of delivery partners and established the governance structures with the Chair. She then managed the on-going relationship with SUL on behalf of BEIS and BBB for several years, until SUL’s merger into the BBB group in 2017.
In October 2017 took on a new role as Managing Director of the nascent UK Network Team, where her remit was to design and build the team, who act as local ambassadors for the Bank across the twelve nations and regions of the UK. The UK Network team now have a network of over 3,500 intermediaries, such as banks, accountants, local authorities, universities and growth hubs, who they use as an invaluable source of intel to identify regional and sub-regional access to finance issues.
Nichole Garner – MBE
Nichole Garner is receiving an MBE
(Image: North Tyneside Council)
Nichole Garner is an Early Years Manager at North Tyneside Council who has spent her career striving to achieve the best for each and every child she supports. Nichole, who has worked for the council for 39 years, will be honoured with an MBE for services to children and families.
She said: “I am so grateful to the council for all of the wonderful opportunities I have been given during my career which have allowed me to continuously develop my knowledge and experience in early years and families and follow my passion of supporting children and families to improve their life chances.”
Nichole, known as Nicki, joined the council in January 1981 as a nursery nurse in Wallsend day Nursery before taking a four-year career break when she had her two children. She returned to the council in 1996 to work in Riverside Nursery in North Shields – a nursery she led to receive an outstanding Ofsted rating just last year. Now working mainly with children under five, she is dedicated to making sure they have the best start in life.
Susan Jean Mountain – BEM
Susan Mountain, 59, of South Shields, is getting a BEM for services to public health and supporting people to give up smoking. The citation reads: “She is a cancer and smoking survivor who has shared her story to save lives.
“When the Fresh programme (Making Smoking History) asked her to consider sharing her story she made the first of many films, speaking from the heart of how she had become addicted as a teenager attracted by the media portrayal of smoking. Having a real person ‘case study’ alongside a powerful TV advert brought to life the fact that smoking causes 16 kinds of cancer.
“She uses her lived experience to support Sunderland University medical school in improving communications skills for doctors; provides expert advice to the NIHR on their research evaluation of the roll out of the NHS Long Term Plan; and is advising the Royal College of Psychiatrists QUIT programme. She has spoken from the heart on at least four All Party Parliamentary Groups on Smoking or Health events and has a unique talent to engage the audience no matter whether they are senior politicians, doctors, academics or other smoking survivors.
“She regularly gives her time to chat to people and give them advice on the Fresh Facebook page. She encourages people to download the smokefree app, as she knows this will give them 24/7 access to a trained advisor.”