The cream of the crop

A FRIENDLY milkman from Tranent today joined Edinburgh tycoon David Murray, best-selling novelist Alexander McCall Smith and arts impresario Richard Demarco on the New Year’s Honours list.

Retired East Lothian milkman George Bell became so well known after serving the communities of Gullane, Aberlady, Tranent and Dirleton for 34 years that he will be awarded an OBE for his good work. The father-of-two, who retired earlier this year, said he had only intended to take on the job on for a few weeks.

Mr Bell, 60, of Elphinstone Walk in Tranent, said: “It’s an honour to be offered this and it came as a huge shock. I delivered milk for 34 years and it is the kind of job where you get to know your customers so well.

“I needed to retire because I have a bad knee and I miss it a lot. I miss the customers and the chat. I became friends with so many people through work and it is a real change not having that.

“The only thing that I don’t miss is the weather – the cold wind and rain early in the morning can really get you down sometimes.”

Mr Bell joins Rangers FC chairman Mr Murray among the great and good being honoured by the Queen. The 55-year-old chairman of Edinburgh-based Murray International Holdings is the only domiciled Scot to be knighted in the New Year’s Honours.

He got the news that he is to receive his award for his contribution to Scotland’s business community as he prepares to become a grandfather for the first time. The Barnton-based tycoon established his first business by the age of 23 and continued to succeed despite losing both legs in a car crash.

He later established the Murray Foundation volunteer network which has offered support to hundreds of Scots affected by loss or absence of limbs.

He said: “I’m delighted for everyone around me – my family, my colleagues and friends – whose assistance made it possible for me to receive such a prestigious award.”

Best-selling Edinburgh author McCall Smith was awarded the CBE for services to literature.

Professor McCall Smith, who penned the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels, said his honour would inspire him to continue with his writing career.

The Merchiston-based author said: “I’m very honoured and delighted by this. I was most certainly surprised and very flattered and I think anything nice like this encourages one to carry on doing whatever one’s doing.”

The founder of Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, Richard Demarco, was also among those honoured and he will receive a CBE for services to the arts. The former Holy Cross Academy pupil receives his award just over 20 years after being awarded an OBE.

Mr Demarco, of Comely Bank, said the honour would inspire him to complete a photographic archive of the history of the Edinburgh Festival in time for next year’s 60th anniversary celebrations. He said: “I’m delighted and honoured and deeply touched by this and it’s given me a good reason to look forward to 2007 as the year of the 60th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival.”

Among the sporting heroes on today’s list was world champion bowler Alex Marshall – one of the most successful Scottish bowlers of all time. Mr Marshall, 39, of Tranent, has been at the top of the indoor and outdoor bowls circuit since first representing Scotland in 1989 and will receive an MBE.

He said: “I was just taken aback when I opened the letter. To be up there with so many well-known names who have been honoured in this way is just fantastic.”

Dedication to her local community has won Haddington Community Council chairwoman and local campaigner Jan Wilson an OBE. The retired childminder became renowned in her fight with NHS Lothian over the closure of the Herdmanflat Hospital for Psychiatric Care.

The community council also helped to tidy up and improve the entrance to the town and steered the expansion of its arts festival.

Ms Wilson, 59, said: “When I got the letter I was absolutely gobsmacked. I was short of words for probably the first time in my life and I even cried. As a community council we have done quite a lot and it is very nice to be recognised for that. Haddington is a beautiful place to live. It was such a lovely place to bring up children and it was just nice to be able to give something back with the work I’ve been involved in.”

As chair of the management committee of Leith-based fostering and adoption network the St Andrew’s Children Society, Maureen McEvoy has seen a big increase in the number of vulnerable children placed in caring families. The Murrayfield-based woman was awarded an OBE after she helped place more than 100 children with Edinburgh families in the last two years.

The 65-year-old says that the Society has recently been placing much older children, up to the age of ten, rather than just babies.

Ms McEvoy, who adopted five children herself between 1957 and 1978, said: “The nature of the work is that it is no longer just babies we are dealing with.

“Often the older children have had quite traumatic lives. Often they will be from families where there is violence, drug abuse and alcohol problems and we need to take a lot of time preparing families for what might happen.

“One of the happiest times I’ve had here was last Christmas when we arranged a Christmas party for some of the children we’d dealt with in recent years. There were about 80 children there and nobody looking in would have seen anything but a group of happy children – they’d not know anything about their backgrounds. That’s what our work is all about.”

Arthur Mathieson, 49, has also been honoured for his services to the community after leading the Boys Brigade in Leith for 31 years. The Standard Life worker will receive an MBE for services to Leith and was leader-in-charge of the South Leith Parish Boys Brigade until earlier this year. He is still treasurer.

He said: “It was quite a surprise to put it mildly and I was delighted to be recognised in such a way.

“Everyone who knows me as being very much a Leith man so it is great to be recognised in such a way.”

Dedication to the fire service in the Lothians has earned temporary deputy chief fire officer Wayne McCollin the Queen’s Fire Service Medal for Distinguished Service.

Welcoming the award, the city council’s chief executive Tom Aitchison said: “Since joining Lothian and Borders in 2003, Wayne has brought his undoubted leadership and change management skills to the work of the Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service which has benefited greatly from his mature, steady and understanding approach.

“Throughout his career Wayne has shown himself to be an excellent role model. He has carried out crucial work on a large number of Scottish and UK national equalities committees both inside and outwith the Fire Service.”

A member of staff at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden is awarded an OBE for his role in helping to conserve the Central American rainforest.

Dr Chris Minty, who lives in Leith’s Constitution Street, helped create a botanical garden in Las Cuevas in the Chiquibul rainforest.

The pioneering initiative he headed up even won the backing of TV survival expert Ray Mears.

Former transplant surgeon Professor Stuart Macpherson will receive the OBE.

Prof Macpherson is based in Edinburgh and was chairman of a committee which came up with the Modernising Medical Careers framework which paved the way for a new training and pay structure for doctors.

Dr Stuart Monro, the scientific director of Our Dynamic Earth, is also honoured with an OBE for services to science.

The geologist’s work has been focused on introducing the public to science by developing new and temporary exhibitions at the £34 million centre which has attracted three million visitors since it was launched seven years ago.

Renowned Edinburgh architect Richard Murphy also receives an OBE. Buildings designed by his company include the Fruitmarket Gallery and the Cancer Care Centre at the Western General Hospital.

Lothian roll of honour

Knights Bachelor Order of the British Empire

David Murray. Chair, Murray International Holdings Ltd. For services to business in Scotland.

Order of the Bath, CB

• Richard Henderson. Solicitor, Office of the Solicitor to the Scottish Executive.

CBE

• Professor Richard Demarco, OBE. For services to the arts.

• Wilma Dickson. Head of Division, Justice Department, Scottish Executive.

• Professor Alexander McCall Smith. Writer. For services to literature.

• Ian Russell. For services to young people and volunteering.

OBE

• Kenneth Carstairs. Senior manager, Lothians, HM Revenue and Customs.

• Thomas Drake. Interim chief executive, Scottish Qualifications Authority. For services to education.

• Michael Ellis. Formerly fund commissioner, Fund Distribution Ltd. For services to the financial services industry.

• Dr Michael Gibson. Head of Support for Learning Division, Education Department, Scottish Executive.

• Professor Stuart Macpherson. Chair, Scottish Modernising Medical Careers Implementation Group. For services to medicine in Scotland.

• Dr Stuart Kinnaird Monro. Scientific director, Our Dynamic Earth. For services to science.

• Richard Murphy. For services to architecture.

• Provost Patrick O'Brien, JP, East Lothian Council. For services to local government.

• John White. Head of devolved customer relations, OGCbuying.solutions, HM Treasury.

MBE

• Maureen Baker. Headteacher of Children's House Nursery School, Edinburgh. For services to early years education.

• George Bell, ex-milkman, Wiseman's Dairy. For services to the community in Gullane.

• Morag Deyes, Edinburgh. Artistic director, Dance Base. For services to dance in Scotland.

• John Ewart. General manager, Blackburn Local Employment Scheme. For services to young people and to the community in West Lothian.

• Alexander Marshall. For services to bowls.

• Arthur Mathieson. Customer services manager, Standard Life. For services to the community in Leith.

• Maureen McEvoy. For services to the adoption of children in Scotland.

• Alan McKinney. Formerly chief executive, Scottish Stone Liaison Group. For services to the stonemason industry in Scotland.

• Christopher Minty. Special projects officer, Belize, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. For services to the conservation of the Central American Rainforest.

• Janet Wilson. For services to the community in Haddington.

QUEEN'S FIRE SERVICE MEDAL

• Wayne McCollin. Temporary deputy chief Fire Officer, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service.