Our Honours List heroes

GAVIN MEANY, NICOLA O'BRIEN, SIOBHAN RYAN and RACHEL FITCH spoke to some of them about their achievements.

Pam Parsons has been a tower of strength for parents going through the worst experience of their life.

For the past 16 years the senior midwife at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath has run a bereavement counselling service for people whose baby has died.

Now she has been recognised for her work by being made an MBE.

She organises a monthly support group and holds a yearly memorial event, giving parents the help they need.

She tries to see every person at the hospital who has lost their baby and if she is not on duty she takes their names and writes or phones to see how they are coping.

The 60-year-old, from Burgess Hill, also provides help and support to mothers who have become pregnant again and who are worried about losing another child.

Mrs Parsons, who is married to Mike, 60, a gardener, has worked in the Mid Sussex area for 35 years and came up with the idea of the support group when she worked at the old Cuckfield Hospital.

She said: "I looked after a woman who had a baby who was stillborn and she often came back into the hospital to talk to me and be close to the place where she lost her baby.

"It occurred to me she might not be the only one to go through this type of thing and so I did some research and set up the group.

"Since then I have been on counselling courses to make sure I have all the right training.

"I have got to know so many special people and many have become my friends.

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Mrs Parsons gives up a lot of spare time to run the service and was nominated to be made an MBE by six parents she has helped.

She said: "I was really touched when I realised who had nominated me and I am very proud."

A caring couple who have fostered more than 100 children over 32 years have been made MBEs.

Denis and Ann Holder featured on the Prime Minister's list of recommendations for their services to children and families.

They have warmly welcomed children with disabilities, troubled backgrounds and babies needing a home before being placed with a family.

The couple, who live in Rotherfield, near Crowborough, keep in touch with up to 30 children who have passed through their hands over the years.

Mr Holder, 73, said: "My wife always wanted to get involved in fostering ever since she worked in a children's home in Inverness. The joy we get is seeing them turn into normal human beings after coming to us in a sorry state."

They currently look after a two-year-old girl and a 20-month-old girl.

Mrs Holder, 68, is a founder member of the East Sussex Foster Carers' Association and has been its long-standing chairwoman.

A regular church-goer, she is also actively involved in the community and is a member of the women's institute.

Another husband and wife team become MBEs for their work with children on one of Brighton's most deprived estates.

Darren Snow, 40, is manager of The Crew Club in Whitehawk, Brighton, and Lorraine Snow, 50, is co-ordinator.

The club provides a safe environment for 500 young people to socialise and learn.

Due to the success and growth of the project, a new centre was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in March. About 50 young people use it every night of the week.

Mrs Snow, who won Achiever of the Year at The Argus Achievement Awards in April, said: "When we got the letters, we couldn't quite believe it. It's amazing. We haven't taken it in yet. It still doesn't feel real."

Among others included in the list are Peter Bailey, who is made an MBE for his unstinting work maintaining the historical archives for Newhaven.

The 90-year-old widower is curator of the Newhaven Local and Maritime Museum in the grounds of Paradise Park in Avis Road.

He said: "Of course I'm very pleased. I'm very chuffed indeed."

Mr Bailey formed a historical society in 1969 and the museum followed on from that.

He was awarded the Freedom of Newhaven for his 80th birthday.

Hastings half-marathon organiser Eric Hardwick has been appointed an MBE.

The 65-year-old father was a keen runner and set up the race 23 years ago.

This year's half-marathon had 5,000 entrants, the highest number so far, and raised thousands for charity.

Another sports achiever to be included in the honours is Ingrid Christopherson, who has been made an MBE.

She first represented Britain in skiing in 1963, has been an International Ski Federation delegate and managed the British children's team between 1990 and 1996.

Miss Christophersen, of Bentley Farm, near Lewes, said: "It's wonderful and I'm incredibly excited about it.

"In over 40 years of skiing you don't mind so much about the recognition because you do it for the love of it.

"But it's great to feel the country feels it has been an important contribution."

He has been a businessman, a barrister and a judo blackbelt but Brighton's Derek Hunnisett is best known for his charity work. His efforts have helped him become an MBE.

Mr Hunnisett, 75, has been involved with Sussex charities for more than 40 years. He recently won the Contribution to Sussex prize at The Argus Achievement awards.

He has been a director of the Martlets Hospice in Hove for nine years, a member of the development council of the University of Sussex and vice-president of the Rockinghorse Appeal, a charity that focuses on children in Sussex hospitals.

He was chairman of family business Hanningtons department store in Brighton..

Joan Dutton, chairwoman of Balcombe Parish Council, has been actively involved in her community for decades. She was still surprised to be made an MBE for her contribution.

She began life in Balcombe, farming with her husband 50 years ago, and has since become a pillar of village life. She has been president of the Women's Institute, the village's Twinning Association and the parish council. She was involved with preserving fresco murals at the village hall that were painted after the First World War.

Mrs Dutton, in her late 70s, said: "I'm a practical, modest, hands-on kind of person. I have spent all these years working with others in the community. I don't think I look on it as a personal award."

Peter Shoesmith has devoted 20 years of his life to keeping Hollington Community Centre, St Leonards, open.

He becomes an MBE for his work at the centre, which is a social club in the day and a working men's club in the evenings.

Mr Shoesmith, 60, said: "It's been a lifetime's work. We have no cleaner so if something needs cleaning, I clean it. It's the same with repairs."

He still thinks someone is playing a "Jeremy Beadle-style trick" on him and said: "I won't believe it until I have the medal on my chest."

Sussex heroes honoured:

CBE:
Dane Jonathan Douetil. Group chief executive officer, Brit Insurance Holdings. For services to business. (Warnham, Horsham)

OBE:
Nicholas Bailey. Formerly accountancy adviser, financial reporting, HM Treasury. (Littlehampton)
Derek Russell Hunnisett. For charitable services to the community in East Sussex. (Lewes)
Colin Kenneth Hurd. Head, strategic technologies, Learning Technologies Unit, Department for Education and Skills. (Horsham)
Professor Anthony John Killick. For services to economic development in Africa. (Battle)
Professor James Michael Lynch. Programme coordinator, Biological Resource Management, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (Angmering)
Richard Keith Turner. Chief executive, Freight Transport Association. For services to transport. (Horam)
Professor Diane Waller. Professor of art psychotherapy, Goldsmiths College, and life president, British Association of Art Therapists. For services to healthcare. (Brighton)

MBE:
Peter Bailey. Curator, Newhaven Local and Maritime Museum. For services to museums in East Sussex. (Newhaven)
Ms Anne Beales. Director, Service User Involvement, Together. For services to healthcare. (Hove)
The Reverend Canon Beaumont Lauder Brandie. For services to the Sea Cadet Corps. (Brighton) Ronald William Bridge. For services to the Association of British Civilian Internees Far East Region. (Crowborough)
Carolyn Ingrid Christophersen. For services to skiing. (Near Lewes)
Joan Margaret Dutton. For services to the community in Balcombe, West Sussex. (Balcombe)
Susan Caroline Elson. Clerk, Solicitor's Disciplinary Tribunal. For services to the administration of justice. (West Sussex)
David John Fitton. For services to local government and to the community in East Sussex. (Newhaven)
Dr Ian Rae Fraser. For services to the Armed Forces. (Wadhurst)
Marilyn Jane Green. For charitable services in West Sussex. (Haywards Heath)
Eric Anthony Hardwick. For services to the Hastings Half-marathon. (St Leonards)
James Hillage. Director of Research, Institute for Employment Studies. For services to skills training. (Newick)
Anne Holder. Foster carer, East Sussex. For services to children and families. (Rotherfield)
Denis John Holder. Foster carer, East Sussex. For services to children and families. (Rotherfield)
Alan MacDonald. Formerly senior executive officer, Child Support Agency, Department for Work and Pensions. (Bexhill)
Alan Mungham-Addicott. Senior executive officer, New Asylum Model, Immigration and Nationality Directorate, Home Office. (Pevensey)
Pamela Parsons. Sister, labour ward and bereavement counselling midwife, Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath. For services to healthcare. (Burgess Hill)
Jean Esme Seagrim. For services to the community in Pulborough, West Sussex. (Pulborough)
Peter Shoesmith. For services to the community in Greater Hollington, East Sussex. (St Leonards)
Darren Snow. Manager, the Crew Club, Whitehawk, Brighton. For services to young people. (Brighton)
Lorraine Snow. Centre co-ordinator, the Crew Club, Whitehawk. For services to young people. (Brighton)
Jennifer Margaret Yeo. For services to the community in Crowhurst, East Sussex. (Crowhurst)