A teenager fighting cancer and a blind man who walked 1,000 miles to deliver prescriptions during lockdown are among hundreds of community volunteers honoured today.
Mikayla Beames, 18, launched her own charity to grant wishes to children with cancer after she was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was only four years old. She is still undergoing treatment.
Team Mikayla has raised £350,000 since 2014 and has granted 220 wishes for seriously ill children.
Mikayla said: ‘Going through cancer is such a hard journey, I wanted to create a charity to grant wishes and give smiles to children going through the same thing.’
She said it was ‘crazy’ to learn she was to receive an honour, adding: ‘It doesn’t seem real, it hasn’t sunk in yet.’
Now studying at college, she is continuing to undergo chemotherapy while fundraising for her charity, including running a half-marathon later this year, and hopes to become a paediatric cancer nurse working in the NHS.
Mikayla, from Wantage, Oxfordshire, who was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM), was one of the youngest people honoured this year, alongside Paralympian William Ellard, also 18, who was awarded an MBE after winning three medals at the Paris Paralympics.
Mikayla Beames has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to charitable fundraising for children with cancer
Mikayla Beames (centre) pictured alongside her parents Natasha and Ian – Team Mikayla has raised £350,000 since 2014 and has granted 220 wishes for seriously ill children
Gillian Yvonne Arukpe has been made an MBE for services to charity and mental health
The oldest recipient was World War II Mosquito pilot Colin Bell, 103, who was awarded a BEM for his charity fundraising and public speaking about Bomber Command.
Unusually, he was one of three centenarians on the Honours List, alongside former RAF navigator George Kelly, 101, who received an MBE for 40 years of working with the Royal British Legion, and Roy Gibson, 100, who was awarded a BEM following a 70-year career working for international space organisations.
Other community heroes to be honoured included military veteran and former nurse John Hardy, 68, walked 1,000 miles during the Covid lockdowns to deliver prescriptions, despite having lost his eyesight in 2014.
Mr Hardy said half of his BEM should be awarded to his guide dog Sidney, who guided him as he made deliveries around his hometown of Bridgwater in Somerset.
The Royal Army Medical Corps veteran, who worked as a nurse for 40 years, walked up to five miles a day with Sidney during the lockdowns, and also works with several charities, including Blind Veterans UK, the Veterans Breakfast Club and Dementia Action Alliance.
Michael Bennion has been made an MBE for services to Scouting and to Young People
John Hardy has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to the veteran community
Jason and Gail O’Shea have been made MBEs for charitable services to Terminally and Seriously Ill Children in Essex
In 18 years the couple have raised more than £1.5million and helped more than 1,000 children, including donating specialist equipment to families to help them cope with life-changing illness and disability
He said: ‘This country runs on volunteers, we don’t have the resources to do everything… Budgets only stretch so far, it’s important we all support each other.’
Married couple Gail and Jason O’Shea, both 58, were awarded MBEs for their work with their charity Wipe Away Those Tears, which supports terminally and seriously ill children in Essex.
In 18 years the couple have raised more than £1.5million and helped more than 1,000 children, including donating specialist equipment to families to help them cope with life-changing illness and disability.
Bereaved mother Wendy Tarplee-Morris, who created a charity to provide wigs for children undergoing cancer treatment, was also awarded an MBE.
She co-founded the Little Princess Trust after her daughter Hannah Tarplee died from cancer in 2005, aged five.
John Hardy has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to the veteran community
Nick Gazzard has been awarded an OBE for his work tackling violence against women. He is pictured here with his daughter Hollie who was murdered by her ex
Researcher and author Mine Conkbayir has been made an MBE in the New Year Honours list for services to Early Years
The charity has since provided nearly 18,000 real-hair wigs to children and young people with hair loss from cancer treatment and other conditions.
There was also an MBE for music teacher Nathaniel Dye, 39, who has raised more than £37,000 for Macmillan since he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2023.
He has carried out challenges including running the London Marathon while playing the trombone and walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
Three parents whose daughters were murdered by their ex-partners were honoured for campaigning to tackle violence against women.
Carole Gould and Julie Devey co-founded of Killed Women after the murders of their daughters Ellie Gould and Poppy Devey Waterhouse. They were both awarded OBEs.
In a joint statement, they said they would continue to campaign against violence against women and girls, adding: ‘A bereaved mother is not to be messed with.’
Nick Gazzard, whose daughter Hollie Gazzard was murdered by her ex, set up a trust in her name in 2014 and was also awarded an OBE.