Selfless work gets reward in royal list

On paper they seem worlds apart but the West Midlands region's recipients of today's honours all share the values of hard work and selflessness.

A sporting legend, grandfather-of-21 and a greenfingered fundraiser were all among the local great and good recognised by the Queen today.

High-profile names such as Cyrille Regis and Frank Sheehan grabbed the headlines but the majority of the awards went to members of the public who have dedicated their lives to improving their communities.

Guy Morse-Brown, aged 69, has been awarded the MBE for services to the millinery industry and skills training.

Mr Morse-Brown and his wife are based in Mill Lane, Wombourne, where he makes blocks for hats and she runs a website dedicated to the trade. He spends much of his time in the workshop, the converted cellar of the old farmhouse which is the family home.

Mr Morse-Brown, a craftsmen by trade, got into millinery in 1996 after spotting a gap in the market for hat blocks, which were introduced in the early part of the last century. The father-of-seven set about designing a machine which could create many hat block shapes in a fraction of the time required to do so by any other method.

He improved the training available to new milliners by establishing, together with his wife of 41 years Ann, the Wombourne School of Millinery. Hundreds of students went through the school before it closed. It is now on-line at www.how2hats.com

Mrs Morse-Brown, 62, said: "I'm very proud of him. I know how hard he's worked and the hours that he's put in."

An MBE also goes to John Massey, 59, who owns Ashwood Nurseries, in Kingswinford.

He has raised around £100,000 for a number of charities by opening his garden alongside the award-winning nursery site.

Mr Massey was nominated by Pam Jones from Macmillan Nurses, which is one of the charities to benefit from his fundraising.

He said: "As far as I'm concerned, this is an award not just for me but for the whole team involved in making the nursery and garden open days a success."

Wednesbury pensioners' champion Tony Salter has been awarded an OBE for his public and voluntary services to the elderly. The 77-year-old of Keir Road, Friar Park, has been campaigning tirelessly for the rights of the elderly since he retired at 61.

Mr Salter, a former Sandwell Council employee, is an active member of Agewell Sandwell, a group affiliated to Sandwell PCT. He said: "I have always been involved in community work and had been on the community health council and was a volunteer on the valuation panel. I got involved in campaigning for the elderly as I was sick of going to meetings and seeing the views of old people put across by people in their 30s. I though it was time the elderly got out there and spoke for themselves."

Receiving a CBE is Dr Khurshid Ahmed, chairman of Dudley Muslim Association and the British Muslim Forum.

He has received the honour for his services to improving community relations in Birmingham. A qualified social worker, he spent 22 years working for Birmingham City Council, where he was head of race relations and equal opportunities from 1984 to 1986 and assistant chief executive from 1986 to 1998. He said: "I've fully enjoyed all the work I've done. I've nominated people myself for honours in the past but I never expected someone to put me forward."

Rev Theophilus McCalla, former chairman of the Nehemiah Housing Association, has been given an OBE for services to the community in the West Midlands.

The 73-year-old father-of-eight from Trysull Road, Merry Hill, has lived in Wolverhampton for 20 years.

The grandfather-of-21 is a member of the Pentecostal Church of God of Prophecy in Gloucester Street, Whitmore Reans, and launched the housing organisation to provide homes for the elderly.

It has premises in Dudley, Walsall and Birmingham as well as a property in Graiseley, Wolverhampton, with self-contained flats for 35 residents named after him. Mr McCalla said: "I am over the moon."

Balwantbhai Dayabhai Unka Patel receives an MBE for services to the Bilston community. The 67-year-old is president of the Hindu Association of Bilston, secretary of Bilston Community Centre and governor of Moseley Park School. Born in India, Mr Patel moved to Kenya aged eight and arrived in this country in 1966.

He said: "Bilston is my second home and holds a very important place in my heart. It is an honour for the entire community."

Frank Mayo, 68, receives the MBE for voluntary service to the Boys' Brigade. He joined the Boys' Brigade in Wolverhampton in 1951, continuing through the ranks and even starting a battalion in New Invention in 1964 until he held the captaincy at 21st Wolverhampton, He set up the Cannock 1st battalion at St Stephen's Church in 1997.

Mr Mayo, of Kensington Place, Cannock, said: "I'm rather proud people have thought of me but I can think of many more people whose work goes unnoticed."

Phyllis Lawrence, from Stourbridge, also gets the MBE for her charity work. In 2004, the pensioner raised £750 for two tiny heart monitors at Wordsley Hospital after her niece and nephew were born prematurely.