The Hall of fame

A knighthood has been awarded to Evening Press columnist Graham Hall, the chairman of Yorkshire Forward.

Mr Hall, the son of a coal miner, rubs shoulders with a milkman, a clockmaker, a teacher, a folk singer and a national park warden in the list of Yorkshire men and women whose achievements have been recognised by her Majesty the Queen.

Mr Hall has chaired the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward since 1999.

Last year he was appointed a non-executive director to the Court of the Bank of England.

He has spearheaded a number of high-profile regional initiatives, including unveiling a ten-year plan in 2000 that was aimed at creating 150,000 jobs.

North Yorkshire football magnate Bob Murray scored a goal of his own in the New Year's Honours List - netting a CBE.

Mr Murray, the Sunderland Football Club chairman who lives at Crayke, near Easingwold, has been awarded the honour for his services to the football club and the community.

The 56-year-old, who made his fortune in kitchen manufacturing has three children, who are all pupils at York's Bootham School.

As well as running Sunderland AFC, Mr Murray is also chairman of Sterling Capitol and Omega Plc.

His charity work includes the Sunderland AFC Foundation, which is dedicated to helping children's health and education.

Commenting on his honour today Bob Murray said: "I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to receive this honour from Her Majesty The Queen. I feel extremely privileged and see this award as being not just for me personally, but for my family and friends who have supported and helped me reach my goals and succeed."

Richard Morris, of Harrogate, has been awarded the OBE for services to archaeology.

Mr Morris, a trustee of York Archaeological Trust, took part in the major excavations at York Minster in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

He also helped set up the York branch of the Council For British Archaeology, in Walmgate, in the early 1990s.

He said: "I am very pleased. There are a lot of other people who have contributed over the years, this is for them as well as me."

In a big boost for the company's 20th year of trading, director of York Nutritional Laboratory John Graham has been awarded the MBE.

The decoration is to recognise Mr Graham's services to international trade in the business community in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

In 1999 YNL won the Evening Press Business Venture of the Year award, and a year later added a pet allergy testing service to its work.

Recently-retired Humberside Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer Roy Williamson has been awarded the OBE.

Mr Williamson retired from the brigade earlier this month after 40 years service, which he began as a firefighter in Lancashire.

"He was very personable, well liked by the brigade and the individuals within it," said the new Chief Fire Officer, Keith Marshall, who was also celebrating today. On the day he was promoted to the post, he also learned that he had been awarded the Queen's Fire Service Medal.

Father-of-two Mr Marshall, 51, started as a firefighter in 1973 at Kingston Upon Hull and was appointed Deputy Chief Fire Officer in December 2000.

He said: "We are going through a rough patch nationally so it's good news for the brigade as well as myself."

Deputy Chief Constable of Humberside Police, Gordon Clark, has been awarded the Queen's Police Medal.

Mr Clark joined Hull City Police in 1969 and has served throughout the Humberside Police area in uniform and detective posts.

He was appointed Assistant Chief Constable in May 1996 and became Deputy Chief Constable in March 2000. He is a regional member of the ACPO Standing Sub Committee On Complaints and Discipline, and ACPO Traffic Committee. He is also chairman of ACPO Working Group On Pursuit Driving.

A childhood interest became a career for Trevor King when he joined the North York Moors park rangers.

Today his passion for the great outdoors was rewarded with an MBE for services to the environment.

Mr King, 62, from Danby, near Whitby, who retired in November after 28 years, said he was absolutely delighted to have been nominated - and totally shocked.

"I have no idea who nominated me," he said.

"Not a clue. There are not many rangers in the UK so it's good to get recognition for the service."

Following nearly 30 years in local politics, Coun June Imeson, of Great Ayton, has received a CBE for services to the Hambleton and Great Ayton area.

Mrs Imeson, Hambleton's council leader for the past ten years, began her career in politics when she successfully fought for Great Ayton's right to stay in North Yorkshire following Government proposals to place it in Teesside.

She stood as a Conservative councillor in the local elections of 1973.

She said she was delighted and stunned to have been nominated.

"I'm very honoured," she said.

"When I opened the letter I had to read it twice to make sure what I was reading was true. Then I had to tick a box to say I would accept it. I was in a panic I'd ticked the wrong box!"

A veteran York clockmaker who keeps the Minster ticking has been awarded an MBE for his services to horology.

Geoffrey Newey, 74, who runs a workshop off Walmgate, began working with clocks alongside his father in 1942.

His grandfather, George Newey, started the family business in the early 1880s in High Petergate. It later moved to Clifford Street and Toft Green.

Geoffrey winds up and maintains a number of well-known clocks in York, including one at York Minster, the Castle Museum, Tower House and the Spurriergate Centre. He famously built and installed the Martin-le-Grand clock in Coney Street in 1966.

"It's really nice to be receiving the MBE," he said.

"It's the first time we've had any official recognition. I will carry on working as long as I can."

Veteran East Riding folk singer Norma Waterson, of Robin Hood's Bay, near Scarborough, has been awarded the MBE.

Norma, whose musician husband Martin Carthy was awarded the MBE three years ago, said the second award made it a "family affair".

She said: "Folk music usually gets the sticky end of the media and it is nice to get some recognition."

The couple's touring group Waterson: Carthy, which includes their daughter, Eliza Carthy, is known as the "Royal Family of folk".

Meanwhile, Ronald Hansell said he was "delighted" after being awarded an MBE for his services to Nether and Upper Poppleton.

The 76-year-old has been Nether Poppleton Parish Council's clerk for 51 years.

"It has been a real labour of love," he said.

"One of my friends said jokingly that I deserved a medal for being clerk and now I'm getting one!"

Colin Stroud, general secretary of the York Council for Voluntary Services, based in Priory Street, is to receive an MBE for his services to the city's voluntary sector.

Catherine Hall, a senior teacher at Haxby Road Primary School, York, will also collect an MBE for her services to education.

A woman who has worked at the same hospital for 30 years has been awarded the MBE for services to the NHS, in Goole.

Susan Glass, 54, started at Goole & District Hospital in 1972 as a telephonist/receptionist, working her way up to her present position as administration manager.

Mrs Glass, whose husband Howard, 58, is retired, said: "I'm absolutely thrilled - it came like a bolt out of the blue.

"I get a lot of satisfaction out of my work and I've no intention of retiring yet."

Also receiving an MBE in the New Year Honour's list is Cyril Smailes, of Scarborough, for services to folk-dancing.

Updated: 10:36 Tuesday, December 31, 2002