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CostaBlancaPeople 3rd - 9th January 2023
3RD - 9TH JANUARY 2023 - EDITION 973
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BEM for HELP Vega Baja head
Michele Masson, President of HELP Vega Baja, has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year Honours List, which was published on Saturday (31st December). Michele has been given the accolade for services to British Nationals in Spain. There are more than 2,000 British Nationals living in the area covered by Help Vega Baja and for many of
them the charity has been a lifeline in difficulty times. Since becoming its President in 2015, Michele Masson has steered the charity through the twin challenges of Brexit and COVID, as well as the severe flooding that hit the Vega Baja in September 2019 – providing a source of constant support to the community when it was most needed. More recently, she has led the
honoured to be awarded the British Empire Medal for services to British Nationals in Spain by his Majesty, King Charles III. I extend my appreciation to colleagues, friends and family who support me. Thank you all.”
Michele Masson
charity’s volunteers to gather supplies of food and clothes for the local Ukrainian association to distribute to the high volume of refugees arriving in Torrevieja. After 15 years working in the NHS, Michele moved to Torrevieja in 2002. Looking for voluntary work she was drawn towards HELP Vega Baja after learning of the support it offers in the local press, and joined intending to do welfare work, but soon moved over to publicity. When the acting president decided to step down in 2015, her husband Tony suggested that she put her name forward for the position. Michele said: “Some 8 years on I still enjoy my role and I am both humbled and proud to be president for such a forward thinking, compassionate and professional charity as HELP Vega Baja. We are blessed with great volunteers, and I have a team working alongside me that is second to none. The charity world is not always an easy place to be in – the demands are many, but the rewards are great. Every telephone call,
email or meeting can mean that we make a positive difference in the life of someone and that is more than enough reason to continue.” Commenting on Michele’s BEM, His Majesty’s Ambassador to Spain, Hugh Elliott said: “I know that my colleagues in our Alicante consulate find it hard to imagine the south of the province without Help Vega Baja and, indeed, without Michele. Under her leadership, the charity has become one of our key partners in the region – assisting with complex consular cases and acting as our eyes and ears on the ground. During the pandemic, Michele worked with us on a partnership pilot project to distribute consular funding via food vouchers to vulnerable families whose income had been lost due to COVID restrictions. Michele is a wonderful example of leading by doing and I am delighted that she has been honoured for her work.” In response, Michele said: “I am
Among good company The 2023 New Year Honours are the first to be signed off by King Charles. There are 1,107 recipients on the main list, announced by the Cabinet Office – 50 percent of whom are women. There are another 141 recipients on the list announced by the Foreign Office recognising overseas contributions, as well as separate lists for police, fire and ambulance personnel and military service. Queen guitarist Brian May has been knighted and England captain Leah Williamson is made an OBE and teammates Lucy Bronze, Beth Mead and Ellen White become MBEs. There is a knighthood for artist Grayson Perry too and a damehood for Olympic heptathlete Denise Lewis. Lissie Harper is made an MBE following her campaign for tougher sentences for the killers of emergency workers. Her husband, PC Andrew Harper, died on duty in Berkshire in August 2019. Among the famous faces on the lists are comedian Frank Skinner, who is made an MBE for services to entertainment. Merseyside-born This Is England actor Stephen Graham becomes an OBE for services to drama, while David Harewood receives an OBE for services to drama and charity. Dame Mary Quant, 92 - the fashion designer widely credited with popularising the mini skirt in the 1960s - joins the elite Companions of Honour. And Virginia McKenna, the 91-year-old actress and co-founder of the Born Free Foundation, is made a dame for services to wildlife conservation and to wild animal welfare.