Dame Shirley Bassey among host of people honoured for contribution to Welsh life
Dame Shirley, who was born and grew up in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, is made Companion of Honour for her services to music.
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Your support makes all the difference.Cardiff-born Dame Shirley Bassey and the incoming chief executive of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) have been named in the New Year Honours list, with an array of others recognised for contributions to life in Wales.
Singer Dame Shirley, who was born and grew up in Tiger Bay and went on to sell more than 135 million records, is made Companion of Honour for her services to music.
She told the PA news agency: “My heart is full of emotion and I am truly humbled.”
Former Home Office director general for passports, visas and immigration Abi Tierney is due to take up her top job at the WRU next month, replacing interim chief executive Nigel Walker.
I am delighted, and humbled, to receive this honour. I see it as recognition of the crucial services delivered by our civil servants across the migration and borders system. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with them all
Ms Tierney, who also served as director general for customer services at the Home Office, is made a Companion of the Order of the Bath for her public service.
She said: “I am delighted, and humbled, to receive this honour.
“I see it as recognition of the crucial services delivered by our civil servants across the migration and borders system.
“It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with them all.
With the new year comes a new beginning for me and for the Welsh Rugby Union and I am very much looking forward to taking on the challenges ahead together with another excellent, proud and passionate team of dedicated individuals
“I am so proud to have been part of these teams.
“With the new year comes a new beginning for me and for the Welsh Rugby Union and I am very much looking forward to taking on the challenges ahead together with another excellent, proud and passionate team of dedicated individuals. I know we will succeed, together.”
Elsewhere, in the charity sector, Lynne Kelly, chair and trustee of Haemophilia Wales, has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to people with haemophilia.
The charity estimates there are approximately 900 people with an inherited bleeding disorder living in Wales and it provides information, support and advocacy to those with haemophilia, Von Willebrand disease and other bleeding disorders.
Haemophilia Wales is one of the organisational core participants of the Infected Blood Inquiry, launched after thousands of patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
I don't know who nominated me but I'm extremely honoured and privileged to receive it. We're a small charity, a Welsh charity and we feel that we've made a positive impact with both care and with getting justice
Ms Kelly, 61, from Cardiff, told PA she was “really pleased and privileged to get the acknowledgment of the CBE”.
She added: “I run the charity from my home, obviously I couldn’t have done any of it without all our members but we feel Haemophilia Wales has made an enormous contribution to both improving haemophilia care in Wales but also to getting justice for haemophiliacs and transfusion victims who contracted contaminated blood in the 1970s and ’80s. We’ve got a public inquiry ongoing at the moment.
“I don’t know who nominated me but I’m extremely honoured and privileged to receive it.
“I can’t quite believe it, I feel quite excited about it …
“We’re a small charity, a Welsh charity and we feel that we’ve made a positive impact with both care and with getting justice.”
Dr Phillip George, of Cardiff, has also been made a CBE for services to the arts in Wales, after he served as chair of the Arts Council of Wales from April 2016 to March 31 2023.
(Dr Phillip George) has been tireless in his work for the arts in Wales and never missed an opportunity to talk about the work being done across the sector by the council, nor to extol the virtues of arts organisations and individual arts practitioners in all parts of Wales
In March, Dafydd Rhys, chief executive, Arts Council of Wales, said the outgoing chair had “been tireless in his work for the arts in Wales and never missed an opportunity to talk about the work being done across the sector by the council, nor to extol the virtues of arts organisations and individual arts practitioners in all parts of Wales”.
Elsewhere on the list, David O’Sullivan, the Welsh government’s chief optometric adviser, has been made Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to eye care in Wales.
Mr O’Sullivan, from Barry, South Glamorgan, was appointed to the post in 2017 and provides the Welsh government with independent professional advice relating to optometric services and eye health matters in Wales.