
N Ireland motorcyclist, war veteran and public inquiry chairwoman honoured
The region also has the oldest person to be honoured on the list, with 106-year-old Second World War veteran Norman Irwin, from Coleraine, in line for a British Empire Medal (BEM).
Norman Irwin, now 106, from Coleraine, served in North Africa (PA)
Dozens of people from Northern Ireland have been recognised, including former permanent secretary at the Department of Health Peter May with the Order of the Bath for public service, and Michael Dunlop, 36, being made an MBE for services to motorcycle racing.
From starting his racing journey as one of the famous Dunlop family dynasty of Ballymoney, Co Antrim, in 2006, Michael has gone on to become the most successful rider in the history of the Isle of Man TT, with 32 wins, and has overall won more than 120 national road races.
He said: 'I've spent years pushing through every high and low life could throw at me. No matter the challenge, I've always given everything 100% on and off the track.
'To now be recognised in this way is a privilege beyond words.'
Astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, 81, originally from Lurgan, Co Armagh, who as a doctoral student discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967, is to be made a Companion of Honour, and Christine Smith KC, from Co Down, chairwoman of the Urology Services Inquiry, is being made a CBE.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell has been honoured (PA)
Ms Smith said she is 'deeply honoured'.
'I feel privileged to be the recipient as the first woman to chair a public inquiry in Northern Ireland,' she said.
'I see it as a recognition of the incredible mentors and champions I have had throughout my career, and I am most grateful for their support.
'I also see it as a reflection of the collective effort of my team on the Urology Services Inquiry (USI,) and those I have been lucky to work with on previous inquiries, including the Independent Neurology Inquiry (INI), the Renewable Heat Incentive Inquiry (RHI) and in particular the Inquiry into Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA).'
EMBARGOED TO 2230 BST FRIDAY JUNE 13 Undated handout photo issued by NI Prison Service of Richard Taylor, govenor of Hydebank Wood Secure College and Women's Prison.
Meanwhile, Richard Taylor, governor of Hydebank Wood Secure College and Women's Prison, is being made an OBE for public service.
Mr Taylor credited the whole team of staff for being part of a 10-year process of turning the south Belfast facility around, following a critical inspection report in 2013, to being described as a 'model of excellence'.
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Leader Live
3 hours ago
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The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
‘Brilliant role model' and veteran ‘never imagined' being honoured at 106
Northern Ireland's oldest man has said he had never expected to receive an honour from the King at the age of 106. Norman Irwin, described by his friends as inspirational and a brilliant role model, served in north Africa during the Second World War before going on to make a difference in his home town of Coleraine. He helped to form the Coleraine Winemakers Club, recalling initially using nettles and dandelions, as well as becoming one of the founders of the town's Rotary Club and the Agivey Anglers Association. Mr Irwin is the oldest person to be recognised in this year's Kings Birthday Honours, and is just one of three recipients over the last 10 years aged 106, as well as being Northern Ireland's oldest man. He said he was very proud to be recognised with a British Empire Medal (BEM), adding it had come as a big surprise, joking he was 'getting on a bit'. Born just a few days after the end of the First World War in 1918, Mr Irwin went on to serve in the Second World War, volunteering in April 1939 to join the Coleraine Battery of the Royal Artillery as a gunner. He described the battlefield in north Africa as stretching thousands of miles and getting chased across the desert by German troops in tanks. The sand presented a major challenge, he described, in terms of logistics, and he even engineered his own guns when they lost the tools to maintain them. 'We lost the tools for them in the sand, so we made our own – you learned to adapt to it very very quickly, you just had to get on with it,' he said. 'You do what you have to do in times of need. 'We were all volunteers here (in Northern Ireland), we weren't conscripted, so we all just went off en masse as our own decision. We never imagined what it was going to be like. ' People talk about the desert rats, but it didn't really get the same coverage as France. 'The First World War took a lot, and the Second World War took even more, terrible times.' Mr Irwin said the sheer distances involved in the conflict in north Africa is often what surprises people the most. 'People just didn't understand the distances when they talk about the Germans when they chased us back across north Africa, it was about 1,500 miles,' he said. 'They all think it's a small localised battle, but it wasn't, it was over a 1,500- 2,000-mile stretch. 'When they chased us back across the desert, they had tanks and we didn't have any, we couldn't cope with those, couldn't fight them, the only thing to do was to leave. 'Then we got reorganised and prepared, and we chased them back across again. The armoured divisions arrived once they realised what we were up against.' He went on to become one of the founding members of the new Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) in October 1942 and he was soon promoted to sergeant. 'I was demobbed at the end of the war and came back home to Northern Ireland, and got a job as an engineer in a local factory and it all went from there,' he said. 'Everything that we did in the forces had an application in industry.' Back home, Mr Irwin helped form the Coleraine Winemakers club in the early 1960s. 'It was beer and wine, home hobbies at the time were quite the thing, and of course people would say to others, 'what do you think of my wine', so we formed a wine club had competitions for people who made wine out of nettles and dandelions, and all sorts of things we could find in the fields,' he said. 'It was quite potent. 'It moved on from that to a higher level, using grapes.' Asked about the held esteem he is held in, Mr Irwin responded: 'People say these things, I wouldn't put myself in that category. 'I enjoyed all those things as well, of course.'