New Year Honours: Gymnast Rhys McClenaghan says BEM ‘a huge honour’
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Rhys McClenaghan, from Newtownards, said it is a huge honour to be included in the New Year Honours List.
The young sportsman already has a host of achievements to his name, including being the Commonwealth and European pommel horse champion.
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Hide AdMr McClenaghan, who has been given a BEM for services to gymnastics, has also qualified for the Olympics.
“This BEM is a huge honour and it has made me very happy,” he said.
Also recognised is the principal of NI’s first integrated secondary school, Amanda McNamee, who is made an MBE.
“I was delighted, it was lovely news in what has been a challenging year in education,” she told the PA news agency.
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Hide AdOver 26 years she has taught in Belfast Boys’ Model, Drumragh Integrated College in Omagh, Methodist College and now Lagan College.
“I would like to think that all the people I have worked with, from my very first school to now, have helped to shape and form the type of educator that I have become,” she said.
One of NI’s most successful entrepreneurs is also on the list, being made an OBE for services to tourism and hospitality.
Belfast hotelier Lord Diljit Singh Rana said: “I feel greatly honoured, it is totally unexpected.”
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Hide AdAfter opening a cafe in Belfast he founded Andras Hotels, which includes the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, two Ibis hotels and Hampton by Hilton.
Also recognised is Lurgan concert pianist William Barry Douglas who is receiving an OBE for services to music and community relations.
A community worker from east Belfast has also been made an MBE, in recognition of his work over the last four decades.
Michael Briggs, an executive director of the East Belfast Community Development Agency, said he has been humbled by the recognition.
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Hide AdThe 57-year-old has been volunteering and working in East Belfast since he was aged 14.
“It is very humbling as there is a lot of people involved in community organisations,” he said.
He has worked in a voluntary and paid capacity carrying out work with the youth sector, community and cross-community sector as well as working on Belfast’s interface projects.
Joining him on the list is a a member of the NI Fire and Rescue Service, who has been made an MBE for her work in helping the LGBTQ community.
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Hide AdKaren McDowell, a station commander from Dromore, Co Down, transitioned gender while working in the fire service and helped promote greater acceptance of transgender people within the organisation.
Mrs McDowell, who is married with two children, said she was “shocked and very humbled” by the honour.
“I thought the email was a joke as I didn’t think you got those things through an email. I was shocked and very humbled,” she said.
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