New Year Honours: Dame Shirley Bassey ‘humbled’

Dame Shirley Bassey has said she is “humbled” to be recognised in the New Year Honours list.

Cardiff-born Dame Shirley has been made a Companion of Honour.

She said her heart was “full of emotion”.

A number of other Welsh recipients have also been recognised, including a teenage cancer fundraiser from Pembrokeshire and water safety campaigner Debbie Turnbull.

Dame Shirley said: “Music has been a constant companion in my life.

“As a little girl growing up in Tiger Bay, I would dream of travelling the world, and never imagined, that one day, my voice would take me to where I am now.

“Every step of my career has been about taking that chance, believing in myself and making that leap.

“I live to sing and love to perform. Entertaining audiences for over 70 years has been a privilege. My heart is full of emotion and I am truly humbled.”

Dubbed a “miracle baby” when she was born, 13-year-old Elly from Pembrokeshire has been praised by the Dalai Lama and former prime minister Theresa May for her fundraising for cancer patients and cancer services.

Now she has been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for helping raise more than £200,000 for Withybush Hospital, which helped her dad Lyn survive a rare blood cancer.

She also fundraises for his charity and Hywel Dda Health Charities, the official charity of Hywel Dda University Health Board.

“We’re so proud of her,” said her 61-year-old father Lyn, who was told five years before Elly was born that his condition meant he could not have more children.

“She’s our miracle baby, we were super surprised and delighted when we found out Ann [Elly’s mother] was pregnant,” he added.

Flintshire-based water safety campaigner Debbie Turnbull and NHS counsellor Sadia Sadiq, 46, from Cardiff, both know the pain of losing a child.

They have been appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs) for their work in overcoming tragedy to help others.

Debbie, who lives in Holywell, founded River and Sea Sense after her 15-year-old son Christopher drowned at Cyfyng Falls near Capel Curig in Gwynedd in 2006.

She said she “couldn’t speak” when she received a letter about being awarded for services to water safety education for young people and families.

“My husband was standing next to me and he thought the letter might have been some bad news,” she said.

“But it was the opposite and I just couldn’t speak – I managed to get the words MBE out and I burst into tears and fell to my knees.

“You’ve no idea how much this means to me – what we’ve been through as a family has been horrific. All I’ve wanted to do is raise awareness of water safety and try to help save more lives and this is another thing that would help.”

Mother-of-five Sadia, whose daughter was stillborn in 2009, received her MBE for services to minority ethnic communities in Wales, after setting up a charity to fill gaps she noticed in mental health and wellbeing support.

“I’m overwhelmed and touched someone has recognised the work we’ve done – because it has been hard at times,” she said, explaining that her charity Community Care and Wellbeing Services regularly receives more than 80 referrals a month.

Sadia said the loss of her daughter pushed her into grief work.

“Her spirit lives on and she’s part of my life,” she said. “I wanted to support other families and not have them feel so isolated and alone.”

For grandmother and businesswoman Shann Jones, a journey which started with a goat has led her to be honoured by the King.

The 57-year-old from Llandysul, Ceredigion, has received an MBE for services to charity and innovation after buying a single goat in an attempt to help her young son’s persistent bronchial difficulties with its milk.

Shann soon had a herd of goats and a vast surplus of milk, so in 2012 founded Chuckling Goat with her husband to sell the kefir produced from the goat’s milk.

“This has been a very personal journey,” she said. “It’s been hard work but I’ve loved it and the MBE is amazing and humbling.”

Among the other Welsh recipients on the New Year Honours list are former Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) board member Amanda Blanc, newly-appointed WRU chief executive Abi Tierney, and Felicity Dahl, founder of Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity.