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Charity Awards winner among Queen's Birthday Honours list

Governance | Niki May Young | 15 Jun 2010

Charity Awards winner Sharon Berry was among the many sector personalities recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for 2010 this week. Berry, whose charity Storybook Dads took home the Overall Winner award in 2007, has received an OBE for services to children and families.

Berry said: "I am extremely honoured to have been awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list and delighted that the work I do with Storybook Dads is considered to be worthy of inclusion.

"Storybook Dads has continued to grow since winning the Charity Awards in 2007 and 40 more prisons have joined the scheme since then. This ongoing rapid growth means I am continually developing strategies and funding plans to meet the obvious need for our service. This can be quite exhausting during a recession and an honour of this kind is an enormous boost for me and I hope will also serve to inspire others throughout civil society."

The Queen’s Birthday Honours list details individuals nominated by members of the public and approved by Her Royal Highness for a knighthood, CBE, OBE or MBE. NCVO chief executive Stuart Etherington received a knighthood while John Carr, renowned consultant on internet child safety, was honoured with an OBE for services to child protection on the internet.

Carr expressed his delight at the achievement: "Of course I felt flattered and honoured to receive the golden letter telling me I was being offered an OBE.

"I know that virtue is its own reward but, if you work in the public policy space as I have done for many years, it is very gratifying to know that your peers have recognised and acknowledged the value of your work…Me getting the OBE was society kind of saying 'Yes. Protecting children on the internet is now accepted as a mainstream public policy concern and these huge civil society organisations - the children's charities - led the charge.'  I couldn't have done what I did without them so I feel they own a big part of it."

Bryn and Emma Parry, co-founders of Help for Heroes were awarded for voluntary service to the armed forces. After serving with the Royal Green Jackets, now The Rifles, for ten years Bryn Parry left the forces and set up a successful career as a cartoonist with his wife Emma. But following a rousing visit to Selly Oak Hospital in the summer of 2007, the couple set out to raise money for injured soldiers. By 2009 Help for Heroes had become so big they sold their company to concentrate full time on the charity which has raised millions of pounds for the war wounded.

Jehangir Malik’s was rewarded for services to Islamic relief after a career which has seen him rise from volunteer to UK Director of Islamic Relief UK and Leslie Ann Morphy, chief executive of Crisis was honoured for services to homeless people. Thodosia Sowa, policy adviser and consultant to a wide range of international development organisations at Charity Commission and consultant at CIFF was rewarded for services to the voluntary sector in the UK and overseas.

Other notable figures:

• Kenneth Olisa, chairman of Thames Reach for services to homeless people in london;
• Margaret Turner, chief executive of the Diana Award for services to young people;
• Emma Stewart, director of Women Like Us for services to social enterprises;
• Sharon Palmer, chief executive of Regional Action West Midlands for services to sector;
• Professor Barbara Monroe, chief exec of St Christopher’s Hospice, London for services to palliative care;
• Elizabeth Burnley, chief guide of Girlguiding UK for services to young people;
• Peter Derrick Cleminson, recent national chairman of the Royal British Legion for voluntary service to ex-servicemen and women;
• Peter Collins, chief executive of Salford Foundation Charity for services to young people;
• Dr Stephen Deuchar, recent director of Tate Britain for services to art;
• Catherine Zeta Jones, actress, for services to the film industry and to charity;
• Prudence Margaret Leith, recent chair of the School Food Trust for services to the catering industry;
• Stephen Dawson, co-founder of Impetus for services to the Voluntary Sector

Directory: Help for Heroes | Storybook Dads
Who's Who: Bryn Parry | Sir Stuart Etherington | Sharon Berry