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Editor98-year-old Llanelli veteran awarded British Empire Medal
Idwal was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours.
The 98-year-old has raised tens of thousands of pounds, along with other members of the Llanelli and District Hospital Friends, and has written a book about his local area – Gone but not Forgotten, which saw all funds donated to the Friends.
Mr Davies said: “The honour is something that I had never considered, but I am pleased that I will have it. I was delighted when I received the letter. I have done a lot of things for the community, but I didn’t do things like that to get a reward or something like that. I did this because I enjoy doing it.”
“I have been involved in so many things in Llanelli over the years, from the Llanelli Goods Shed project, to the local swimming club and historical society – you name it, I’ve done it. Getting the letter from the Cabinet Office about the BEM was completely out of the blue, a complete surprise, I had no idea, but I am very pleased.”
Llanelli MP, Dame Nia Griffth said she was “absolutely delighted” to see Idwal awarded the honour, saying it recognised his “unstinting contribution to Llanelli both documenting our town’s history and many hours of service to the League of Friends of Llanelli Hospital”.
#BEM #HMKingCharlesIII #KingSBirthdayHonours #Llanelli #Veterans
University professor honoured for expertise in health data innovation
Professor David Ford, professor of informatics and director of Population Data Science based in Swansea University Medical School, has been appointed OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list in recognition of his services to social science.
His work has transformed the ethical and secure use of data for the public good, both in the UK and globally, enabling interdisciplinary research at the intersection of health and social sciences. By uncovering insights into population-level trends and the social determinants of health, Professor Ford has significantly advanced understanding of how societal factors shape health outcomes, impacting social science research and evidence-informed policy.
He said: “I am both surprised and delighted to be awarded this honour. I never for a moment thought I would be in the running for one!
“Of course, while I am absolutely thrilled to receive it, I am very conscious that any successes associated with me over the years were only possible through the hard work and dedication of a lot of very clever colleagues. It is with them I share this award.”
Professor Ford is the co-founder and director of the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank, and the Secure e-Research Platform (SeRP), which contains billions of person-based records. SAIL has become a trusted population databank, improving lives by providing researchers with secure, linkable and anonymised data.
In 2024 the contribution of the SAIL Databank to the harnessing of public data to improve population health and wellbeing led to Swansea University being awarded a prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize.
Professor Ford is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA) and was also included in DataIQ 100 most influential people in data and analytics for 2021.
He will receive his insignia at an investiture later this year.
#HMKingCharlesIII #KingSBirthdayHonours #OBE #Swansea #SwanseaUniversity
Llanelli-born Specsavers co-founder honoured with CBE
Specsavers was formed by Doug and his wife Dame Mary in 1984 and is now the largest private eye and hearing care provider in the world, winning global recognition for its famous ‘Should’ve Gone to Specsavers’ strapline and humorous approach to marketing.
As well as an innovative approach to pricing and advertising, Doug applied a pioneering joint-venture partnership model to the optical industry. Each Specsavers business, which now number more than 1,000 in the UK alone, is part-owned and managed by its own directors, who are shareholders, supported by a comprehensive supply chain and specialists in various support offices, providing services such as marketing, accounting and IT.
Doug has always been very much involved with the day-to-day running of the business and is passionate about innovation and clinical excellence. He spearheaded the rollout of OCT scanners in all Specsavers stores and continues to champion the role optometrists and audiologists play in supporting the NHS and delivering healthcare in the community.
“I can’t tell you how honoured I feel to receive this award for services to business as I have dedicated my entire career to helping people to see and hear more clearly. But more importantly, this is recognition for the 45,000 people around the world who work for Specsavers and for our ophthalmic surgery business Newmedica and their dedication to changing people’s lives through better sight and hearing,” he says.
“Together, we have achieved so much since we started this business more than 40 years ago from pretty humble beginnings and it’s really quite incredible that we are now offering our services to more than 48 million people, as far afield as Canada and New Zealand, and have a robust supply chain that spans the world from the UK and Europe to Asia Pacific. None of that could have been achieved without loyal, hardworking, visionary colleagues and partners.
“My wife Mary and I recognised from the very beginning, when we started the business together, that we needed to surround ourselves with people with the right skills to propel as forward if we were to achieve our goals of offering value for money and experts who truly care.”
Born in Llanelli in 1943, the son of a police sergeant and a farmer’s daughter, Doug has been industrious from a young age and had jobs as an errand boy, laundry delivery driver and assistant at a local chemist. He credited this experience as instilling in him the value of hard work and inspiring in him a passion for healthcare and retail.
Doug qualified as an optometrist from Cardiff College of Advanced Technology in 1965 where he met Mary Bebbington. Together they founded Bebbington and Perkins Opticians, which they sold in 1980 before moving to the island of Guernsey to be closer to Mary’s parents, who had retired there. Doug still goes into the Guernsey office every day and travels extensively to support business growth and the industry sector as a whole.
“I am just as passionate now as I ever was about the future of optometry, ophthalmology and audiology, as well as further opportunities and expansion of the Specsavers group, which includes our Newmedica eye hospitals in England. Improving access to expert eye and hearing care for everyone, regardless of their circumstances or where they live, has been and will continue to be our driving force and I have no intention of retiring as long as I can continue to be useful to that cause,” he says.
The company was put into a family trust some years ago to ensure that it would continue to operate under the Perkins stewardship and prevent it being sold into private equity. It remains very much a family business, with son John Perkins as CEO and four of their seven grandchildren already very much involved in the organisation.
#Business #CBE #HMKingCharlesIII #KingSBirthdayHonours #Llanelli #Specsavers
Swansea Bay health professionals named in King’s birthday honours
Plastic surgeon, Professor Iain Whitaker, and Lymphoedema nurse, Karen Morgan, have been award The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Medal of the Order of the British Empire (BEM) respectively.
Professor Iain Whitaker is an honorary consultant plastic surgeon at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery at Morriston Hospital.
Karen Morgan is the National Lymphoedema Education and Research Lead at Lymphoedema Wales, based in Cimla Hospital.
The King’s Birthday Honours list recognises the achievements and service of people across the UK, from all walks of life.
Professor Whitaker, who also holds the Chair of Plastic Surgery in Swansea University Medical School, was appointed OBE in recognition of his services to plastic surgery (clinical, research and training).
He said: “I am deeply honoured to receive this award and am thankful for the recognition for more than 20 years of work within the specialty of plastic surgery.
“I would like to thank all those involved in my nomination and acknowledge that this is also a reflection of the achievements and contributions of the organisations, communities and individuals that I work with.
“My aim has been to work tirelessly to investigate ways to improve patient care, whilst building a multidisciplinary team and inspiring the brightest and the best surgeons in training to come to Wales and raise the profile of the nation.”
Karen Morgan was awarded the honour for services to lymphoedema care.
She said: “I was and still am very shocked and emotional about receiving the notification about this prestigious award.
“I have worked within SBUHB since I first qualified as a nurse in 1989 and as you know the National Lymphoedema Team are hosted by the health board.
“I am very proud of the health board so to raise its profile and that of Lymphoedema Wales Clinical Network (LWCN) is amazing.”
Swansea Bay University Health Board Chief Executive, Abigail Harris congratulated the pair.
She said: “I would like to congratulate Professor Whitaker and Karen Morgan for their inclusion in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours list.
“They have both been recognised for excellence in their chosen fields and humbly acknowledge the support of their colleagues in achieving such regal recognition.
“It’s always pleasing to see talented and dedicated clinicians being able to flourish here in Swansea Bay as it not only offers encouragement to others but reassures our patients that they are in the best of hands.”
Health board Chair, Jan Williams, added: “I would like to add my warmest congratulation to Karen and Iain for their much deserved honours.
“It’s always a joy to see the efforts of our staff being recognised on a national level.
“It’s particularly nice to see them recognise the contribution of their colleagues as we all know that we are blessed in Swansea Bay to have such a hardworking, dedicated workforce.”
#BEM #Cimla #CimlaHospital #HMKingCharlesIII #KingSBirthdayHonours #MorristonHospital #OBE #SwanseaBayUniversityHealthBoard
Jude🇵🇸#KingsBirthdayHonours, gender breakdown.
Too many to count, so I have just counted the 2 top categories, and these are the results:
Companions of Order of Aust: 11 men, 3 women
Officers of Order of Aust: 21 men, 10 women.
Really??!
WonderDog's Dad@anne_twain When you see that one gong went to a person who got rich bullying poor people to attain impossible goals, the value falls right off.
Sorry, genuine achievers and doers of good: your awards have been tainted by association.
StrypeyCongratulations to Nicky Hagar ONZM for finally getting formal recognition (instead of police raids) for his years of excellent, independent journalism:
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/06/05/nicky-hager-awarded-onzm-for-his-investigative-journalism/
Nicky has been a huge source of inspiration for my own independent media activism. Like Dr Mike Joy, Hagar is a national treasure, and we're lucky to have him.
#Aotearoa #NZ.#NickyHagar #IndependentMedia #InvestigativeJournalism #KingsBirthdayHonours
bananabob 
🇺🇦 🇵🇸King's Birthday Honours: Queen Camilla and former PM receive highest honours
"More than 180 Kiwis have received honours this King's Birthday, with Queen Camilla receiving the highest honour, being made an Additional Member of The Order of New Zealand."
Since when was Camilla a Kiwi? And why does she get this honour?
