Honours for air ambulance staff and foster carers

Air ambulance doctors and a couple who have fostered children for more than 30 years were among those named in the King's Birthday Honours list.

Dr Simon Lewis and Dr Rod Mackenzie were both appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for their work with Magpas Air Ambulance, based in Alconbury Weald in Cambridgeshire.

Lewis said it was "a recognition of the phenomenal team... the doctors, paramedics, aircrew, charity staff, volunteers".

Foster parents Maureen and Stephen Greene, from Peterborough, have also become MBEs and said they thought it "wonderful that fostering itself has been recognised".

Lewis is Magpas' executive medical director as well as a consultant in emergency medicine at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

He began volunteering with the charity more than 25 years ago and last year received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Air Ambulance Awards of Excellence.

"I am incredibly proud and deeply honoured to receive this award," he said of the MBE, adding "pre-hospital emergency medicine is never about one individual".

Former medical director Mackenzie joined Magpas as a volunteer doctor in the early 1990s.

He was critical to the formation of the Cambridgeshire Community First Responder Scheme and to setting up the very first helicopter mission at Magpas Air Ambulance, which flew to a patient in Wisbech in 1997.

"It helped shape the care provided to patients at some of the most difficult moments of their lives not just in Cambridgeshire, but across the UK," he said.

"I feel deeply indebted to the charity, and I feel a profound sense of personal satisfaction and pride whenever I see the aircraft or cars deploying."

The Greenes have fostered dozens of children for Peterborough City Council since 1994.

Stephen said: "To watch a young child that has struggled and then to flourish and do well, for me it makes it all worth it.

"We've got children that have been with us and are now in the Army, the Navy, have gone on to higher education, and they've obviously had children as well, and now we're their grandparents, which is lovely."

The couple are keen advocates of fostering through "your local authority, because the support network is there" and Stephen has previously been chairman of its fostering committee.

Fostering locally also keeps children in familiar surroundings.

"If they're kept local, they've got their schools still, they've got their friendship groups, they've got things that are still familiar to them because coming into care is a loss," explained Maureen.

The couple said congratulations had been pouring in since the announcement, which was made on their 33rd wedding anniversary.

AppointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE):

• Prof Carol Brayne, of the University of Cambridge, for services to medicine, medical research and public health
• Prof Ian Abrahams, of the University of Cambridge, for services to mathematical sciences
• Clare Chapman, of Cambridge, chairwoman of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, for services to industrial relations
• Dr Sarah Hughes, of St Neots, chief executive officer for Mind, for services to mental health and to civil society
• Dr David Rees, of Cambridge, recently chief scientific officer for Astex Pharmaceuticals, for services to chemistry and innovation
• Prof Susan Sentance, director of the Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre, University of Cambridge, for services to education

Appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE):

• Nafiza Anwar, of Cambridge, co-founder of the Association of South Asian Midwives, for services to charity and healthcare
• Dr John Buscombe, from London and lately consultant at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, for services to nuclear medicine
• Dr Azhar Chaudhry, GP at Thistlemoor Medical Centre, for services to the community in Peterborough
• Emily Cherry, of Cambridge, chief executive of the Bikeability Trust, for services to active travel for young people
• Jen Ellis, of Cambridge, founder of NextJenSecurity, for services to cyber policy
• Dr Arun Gupta, consultant in anaesthesia and neurocritical care at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and director of Cambridge Digital Health and Training Centre, for services to medical education
• Michael Levy, of Cambridge, volunteer educator and author, for services to Holocaust education
• Dr Colin Prosser, of Peterborough, of Natural England, for services to geo-conservation
• Suzanne Raine, of Cambridge, trustee of the Imperial War Museum, for services to heritage
• Tracy Sortwell, Justice of the Peace, of Peterborough, chairwoman of the Magistrates' Association's Family Court Committee, for services to the administration of justice

British Empire Medal (BEM):

• Rex Freeman, for services to the arts and community in Cambridge
• Lorna Williams, from Ely, chief exec of British Adhesives and Sealants Association, for services to the chemicals industry

Do you have a story suggestion for Peterborough? Contact us below.

Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.