PEOPLE across the county have been recognised for their great achievements and commitments in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Elaine Evans, of Reynolds Road, Hove, burst into tears when she read that she was to be awarded a BME.

Mrs Evans thought the letter which arrived in the post was a hoax – but then a phone call from the Cabinet office confirmed she was to be recognised for her services to the arts in the south east.

Mrs Evans said: “I burst into tears. I was just so surprised. I have never dreamed of getting anything like this.”

A range of activities have been recognised, from voluntary work and political service to entrepreneurship and involvement in the arts.

The awards are announced on the Queen’s official birthday today.

Sussex received a total of 20 honours: one knighthood, two CBEs, three OBEs, seven MBEs (Commander, Officer and Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, respectively) and seven BEMs (British Empire Medal).

Those receiving them join the likes of US actress Angelina Jolie who has been awarded an Honorary Damehood.

The Regency Patron, Mrs Evans, has been supporting The Royal Pavilion and Museums Foundation for about six years.

Mrs Evans, who is also a member of the Hove Civic Society, sits on the Brighton and Hove Commemorative Plaque Panel and is a supporter of the Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus, used to take foreign students around the Pavilion when she set up the East Sussex School of English in 1972, which she ran for 29 years.

She said: “I knew the Pavilion was the most important building in the city.”

Now she supports the charity through donations and by taking a new guest to each of the pavilion events for members and patrons, to introduce more people to the foundation.

She said: “The more people who know about it, the better.”

Robert Yates, head of fundraising at the foundation, said: “Elaine values what the museum contributes to the city and sees supporting it as something she can do rather than somebody else’s responsibility.”

The Rt Hon Nicholas Soames, Conservative MP for Mid Sussex, was awarded a Knights Bachelor for political service.

He said: “I am deeply honoured for myself and for my family – of course I regard it as a signal mark of favour.”

Dorothy Lazenby, 83, of Bolnore Village, near Haywards Heath, who has run two lunch clubs for the partially-sighted in Hassocks and Clayton for 24 years, has received a BEM.

She said: “I am grateful to the club members for nominating me. There are many other people involved in voluntary work in Mid Sussex who do as much if not more.

“There are a lot of partially sighted people in Sussex who are likely to become increasingly isolated without the work of organisations such as 4SIGHT, the West Sussex Association for the Blind.”

The list of who has received an honour is published twice a year, once in the New Year and once on the Queen’s official birthday on the first, second or third Saturday in June.

People in Sussex to receive an honour are:

 

Knights Bachelor

The Rt Hon (Arthur) Nicholas Winston Soames, member of parliament for Mid Sussex, for political service.

 

Order of the British Empire

CBE

Michael Edwin Hurn, director project sponsorship, HS2 Ltd, for services to the rail industry (Lindfield, West Sussex).

Mark Mallalieu, head of DFID Afghanistan Department for International Development, for services to international development (Haywards Heath, West Sussex).

 

OBE

Mrs Dorothy Helen Hatfield, member, consultant and adviser, Women's Engineering Society, for services to engineering (Horsham, West Sussex).

Robert John Linham, Head Council of Europe Human Rights Policy, Ministry of Justice, for services to human rights policy (Brighton, East Sussex).

Ms Sharmila Nebhrajani, chief executive, Association of Medical Research Charities, for services to medical research (Brighton, East Sussex).

 

MBE

Ms Carole Frances Damper, chief executive, E. C. Roberts Centre, Portsmouth, for services to Children and Families (Chichester, West Sussex).

Keith Ronald Leech, for services to heritage in East Sussex (Hastings, East Sussex).

Stuart Joseph McNab, coastguard rescue officer, Eastbourne Coastguard Rescue Team, for voluntary service to search and rescue (Eastbourne, East Sussex).

Mrs Margaret Joan Rhodes, foster carer, for services to children and families (Newhaven, East Sussex).

Peter Richard Seaton Rhodes, foster carer, for services to children and families (Newhaven, East Sussex).

Antony Paul Wilson, project director, World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre, British Museum,  for services to museums (Cuckfield, West Sussex).

Mrs Kay Maria Yeowart, founder, Pulmonary Hypertension Association, for services to people with pulmonary hypertension (North Chailey, East Sussex).

 

British Empire Medal

George Walter Mark Callow, apprentice in cabinetmaking, for services to skills (East Wittering, West Sussex).

Mrs Elaine Violet Elizabeth Evans, for services to the arts in East Sussex (Hove, East Sussex).

Mrs Dorothy Mary Lazenby, for voluntary service to blind and partially-sighted people in Mid Sussex (Haywards Heath, West Sussex).

Mrs Elizabeth Rose Peel, for services to the community in East Grinstead (Hartfield, East Sussex).

Patrick Perks, for services to the community in Billingshurst, West Sussex (Billingshurst, West Sussex).

Ian Roy Porter, for services to heritage and to the community in Hastings Old Town, East Sussex (Hastings, East Sussex).

Philip Stephen Wadey, trainer, Kent and Sussex area, British Red Cross, for voluntary service to first aid (Hastings, East Sussex).