UK new year’s honors list touches Arab world

The awards are presented by or in the name of Queen Elizabeth II. (Reuters)

LONDON: From the founder of a Kuwaiti children’s hospital to a Tunis embassy British diplomat, the New Year’s honors list set its footprint across the Arab world.
Diplomats and embassy staff from around the Middle East figured widely in the list issued by the UK Cabinet Office which features the names of 1,123 people.
More than two thirds are people recognized for work in their communities.
Among those working in the Middle East is Leila Memmi, vice consul at the British Embassy in Tunis, who was awarded an MBE for services to British victims and their families following a terrorist attack at Sousse, Tunisia in 2015.
Some 38 people, 30 of whom were British, lost their lives during the attack after a lone gunman opened fire at a beach resort.
Also in Tunisia, Patricia Coelho, political first secretary at the British Embassy in Tunis, was awarded an MBE for services to British foreign policy.
Angus John Clarkson, lately head of the Foreign Office’s Syria office in Amman, was awarded an OBE for “services to furthering UK interests in Jordan and Syria.”
Marrena Ruby Bradshaw, chief of staff to the director of the Foreign Office’s Middle East and North Africa Directorate, was awarded an MBE for services to British foreign policy.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Chivers, a former stabilization adviser at the British Embassy in Beirut, was awarded an MBE for services to UK/Lebanon relations.
Outside of the diplomatic sector, Alan David Thomson, managing director, Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSSC), was awarded an MBE for services to the UK and global water industry and associated charities. He previously worked in senior roles at Thames Water and West of Scotland Water.
Margaret Therese Al-Sayer, the founding director of the Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital and the Bayt Abdullah Children’s Hospice in Kuwait, received an OBE for services to child health and hospice provision in Kuwait.
Finally, Carol Angela Murray, a volunteer and member of the Bahrain Anglican Church Council, was awarded an MBE for services to charity and the community in Bahrain.