A FORMER district councillor and current chair of a national naval association has picked up an OBE.

Chris Dovey, from Tenbury Wells, chairs the Royal Naval Association and has been handed the gong for voluntary service to naval personnel in Worcestershire.

The 68-year-old, a former Malvern Hills District Councillor for the Conservatives, began his chairmanship term with the RNA in 2010 having been involved with the group for 25 years.

He says he is “delighted by the news” which he found out while on a train to meet RNA colleagues back in November.

“My wife, Gail, called me to say I’d had this letter from the Cabinet Office with ‘urgent’ written on it,” he said.

“I asked her to open it and that’s when I found out. She cried. I was astounded really but am delighted with it.”

Mr Dovey spent three years as a district councillor for Tenbury but left after feeling he couldn’t commit enough time to the role.

He said he is actively involved in issues throughout Tenbury, including being chair of the town’s Flood Relief Fund.

He has also been involved in improving community transport for town residents.


AN assistant headteacher who recently celebrated 100 terms of teaching has been given an MBE for services to education.

David Kemp, assistant head at Bromyard’s Queen Elizabeth Humanities College, says he hasn’t a clue who nominated him, but his delighted all the same.

“I am naturally delighted to have been nominated for this award,” said Mr Kemp, who joined the school as a music teacher in 2005. He has been a teacher just for over 33 years.

“I often feel very guilty about my job because I thoroughly enjoy what I do and also get paid for it and now I have also received this award,” said the 55-year-old, who lives in Bromyard.

“I have just completed my 'centenary term' in education and what a way to celebrate it.”

Alongside QE headteacher Michael Goodman and deputy headteacher Bonnie Griffiths, Mr Kemp has helped oversee a dramatic improvement in the school’s GCSE results.

Students recording five or more GCSE’s including English and Maths at the venue has risen from 34 per cent in 2010 to 80 per cent in 2013.


THE top man at West Midlands Ambulance Service is “very honoured” to be included in this year’s New Year honours list.

Chief executive Anthony Marsh, who has been with the service for more than 25 years, is receiving the Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal (QAM).

As we have reported, Mr Marsh is held in such high regard that he has been called in to help tackle problems on the other side of the country at East of England Ambulance Service.

He is becoming chief executive of that trust from tomorrow in a job-share arrangement with his current position, although patients in the West Midlands have been assured that their service will not suffer as a result.

Mr Marsh paid tribute to his colleagues right across West Midlands Ambulance Service.

“I am very honoured to have received this award. Whilst I have been extremely fortunate to receive it, this is down to the hard work of everyone involved in the ambulance service,” he said.

“There is not a day goes by that I do not see or hear about the actions of staff that makes me immensely proud to be part of the ambulance service.”


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