The actual title of the award is the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, an order of chivalry established by King George V on 4th June 1917 and includes five classes in civil and military divisions ranging from knight and dame grand cross to commander, officer and member, although there was also a related British Empire Medal which has not been issued since 1993. The awards are made twice annually to coincide with the New Year and the Queen’s Birthday in June, the motto of the order being For God and the Empire and although the most junior of the British orders of chivalry, it has more members than any other and now embraces all walks of life in our society.

Sir George White was a cobbler's son who was born above his father's shop in West Street, Bourne, in 1840. He left home at 16 to work at a boot and shoe factory in Norwich but soon made his mark in business, the Baptist movement and in public life, becoming an alderman and Sheriff of Norwich and later M P for North West Norfolk, a seat which he held for twelve years until he died in 1912, aged 72. He was knighted for his public service in 1907.

Dr William John Gilpin (1864-1943) was the first recipient in Bourne when he was awarded the MBE in 1918 for his work in running the military hospital set up at the Vestry Hall in North Street for the treatment of soldiers wounded during the Great War. When hostilities began in 1914, he was a general practitioner based at Brook Lodge in South Street but was also Bourne’s Medical Officer of Health and so became a consultant to the hospital, later being appointed commandant by the War Office and between then and the war’s end a total of 945 men from the front line were cared for.

Albert E K Wherry (1874-1962) became chairman of the family business, Wherry and Sons Ltd, but his most important work was carried out during the Great War when he was appointed adviser to the Ministry of Food and the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and in 1920 he was awarded the OBE for his conspicuous service on various government committees.

Miss Urith Dent, headmistress of the Bourne Junior and Infants Council School in Abbey Road [now the Abbey Primary Academy] was awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours List in 1943 for her work at the school, particularly in receiving hundreds of pupils who were evacuated to Bourne from areas in England that were a target for enemy bombing, notably Hull. To keep pace with the influx, this entailed a complete re-organisation of classes each term and she also took a personal interest in their health and welfare and helped in their billeting and welfare arrangements and the provision of clothing. Miss Dent received her award from King George VI during an investiture at Buckingham Palace when 300 people were decorated on the same day although only 19 of them were women.

Lilian Wyles (1885-1975), daughter of a Bourne brewer, is best remembered as one of Britain’s first female police officers and the first to become a member of the CID with the Metropolitan Police and in 1949 she received her BEM from King George VI in recognition of her thirty years of dedicated service.

Mrs Kate Cooke (1896-1978) was a leading voluntary worker during the last century and her outstanding work was recognised in 1953 when she was awarded the MBE in recognition for her public service in many fields, as a district councillor, for the church, the local Conservative Party and for the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS), an organisation that played an important role during the Second World War when a major achievement was her role as billeting officer responsible for hundreds of evacuees who were sent here to escape the bombings in their home towns.

John Robert Arnold (1885-1965) served with the infantry during the Great War but it was his work during the Second World War of 1939-45 that brought him honour. He had been invalided home from France because of injury and it was this experience that prompted him to start helping disabled ex-servicemen through various local committees in the Bourne area with which he was associated for forty years and in 1958 he was awarded the MBE. He was also probation officer for Bourne and later Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths, while his record with the Congregational (later the United Reformed) Church was an impressive one as preacher and secretary as well as holding other appointments at local and county level.

John Henry Moody (1906-92), always known as Jack, was the longest serving fireman in the history of Bourne and was honoured in 1963 with the BEM, having completed a total of 37 years with the brigade. He joined when he was 21 and rose to become station officer.

Sister Grace Ann Bristow, aged 62, was awarded the MBE in 1973 in recognition of her work at the Butterfield Hospital where she was assistant matron. She had begun her nursing career in 1932 by undertaking training at Rauceby Hospital near Sleaford and after qualifying became one of the first in Britain to have the title State Registered Mental Nurse. She joined the Butterfield in 1953 and remained there for 20 years during which time she won a reputation for her compassion and efficiency.

Mrs Ida Pick (1888-1975), a leading figure in local affairs for more than half a century, was awarded the MBE in 1974 for her voluntary service which embraced many organisations but is mainly remembered for her work with the Red Cross and for inspiring the opening of the Darby and Joan Hall in South Street in 1960.

Raymond Mays (1899-1980), international motor racing driver and designer, is our most distinguished award winner. He was the inspiration behind the BRM which in 1962 became the first all-British car to win the world championship with Graham Hill at the wheel. Raymond and his team were given a civic reception at the Corn Exchange by Bourne Urban District Council the following year but a national honour was a long time coming and it was not until 1978 that he received a CBE for his services to motor racing.

Cyril “Ching” Clay, is perhaps our most unlikely candidate for an honour although he has been one of Bourne’s most familiar characters for over half a century. After leaving school when he was 14, he went to work for the old Bourne Urban District Council and then South Kesteven District Council, eventually completing 65 years without missing a single day off work through illness or any other reason and in 1980, he was awarded the BEM for his dedication to duty. He is now 86 and can still be seen most days cycling around the town about his business.

Hugh Middleton, better known to everyone as Nobby, is a newcomer to Bourne, having retired here only in May 2000 after a lifetime of service with the Royal Navy and later with the civilian catering staff at the Royal Naval College at Greenwich for which he was awarded the MBE in 1993 for services to the Ministry of Defence.

Hugh Delaine-Smith (1920-1995) was one of the best-known businessmen in Bourne in recent years as chairman and managing director of the local bus company, Delaine Buses Limited, founded in 1890 and now a household name in the locality. He became involved in the business while still a boy, cleaning buses at the age of eight, and by 1958 he was running the company. In 1995, he was awarded the MBE for his services to public transport but tragically, he died on March 15th, aged 74, having received his summons to Buckingham Palace only a few days before.

John Holliday Wand, another businessman who has been honoured, was born at Rippingale in 1925 and left school when he was thirteen to work in a bakery. By 1941, he had graduated to an apprenticeship in the radio trade for a Bourne shopkeeper where he learned to repair wireless sets and charge accumulators and soon set up on his own with a  capital of £15 but went on to establish an electrical and domestic appliance business in North Street that is still trading today. Jack, as he is known to everyone, was awarded the MBE for his services to the electronics industry in 1999 and although now retired, he remains a familiar face around the town.

Michael Warner (1940-2007) was the son of Lorenzo Warner who founded the printing company of Warners Midlands plc, joining the firm in 1950 and rising to become managing director and later chairman. He developed the printing side, expanding into the publication of colour magazines, and was awarded the MBE in 2000 for services to business.

Gerald Blacoe, aged 55, a Bourne businessman who has made his mark in international trade, was awarded the MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list. He is senior manager for the pillow and quilt manufacturers, Fogarty of Boston, and also chairman of the East Midlands International Trade Association as well as being active in the community at Bourne where he has lived for the past 17 years, being a regular player for the Motley Crew cricket team and also helps coach youngsters at Bourne Town Juniors Football Club.

Jim Jones, aged 70, a retired engineer, is the latest recipient to be honoured. He was awarded the MBE in 2009 for his work at the Heritage Centre based at Baldock’s Mill in South Street since it was opened in 1981 and who, with his wife Brenda, has been responsible for the opening of galleries devoted to the life and times of Raymond Mays and Charles Worth (1825-95), the famous Paris fashion designer who originated in Bourne, and more recently the restoration of the water wheels to produce green electricity, a project which came to fruition after 500 hours of voluntary labour.

Dr Bob Sheppard, a naturalist who has been dedicated to the conservation of birds for more than 35 years, was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2012. Since he moved to Bourne in 1975, he has been advising farmers on habitat creation and installing nest boxes for birds of prey. Dr Sheppard, of Beech Avenue, Bourne, who is also an active member of the Friends of Bourne Wood organisation, has installed 1,000 owl boxes to date, an achievement that has earned him a nickname in the locality as the owl man.

Ernie Wyer, aged 80, was awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year Honours List in January 2013 for services to the community at Morton and Hanthorpe, near Bourne. He has lived in the village for over half a century during which time he has been a bell ringer at St John the Baptist church for 12 years and has served on the parish council for more than 20 years, taking a particular interest in maintaining the playing field and helping to organise the annual street fair. Ernie a retired joiner, lives with his wife in Edenham Road, Hanthorpe, and has won a reputation for always being ready to held anyone with odd jobs.

Mrs Candice Pellett, a district nurse with the Lincolnshire Community Health Services Trust, was awarded the OBE in the New Year Honours List of 2014. She is married with two children and lives at Spalding but has been at the Bourne Health Centre in Exeter Street since 1995, working alongside doctors at the Galletly Medical Practice in North Road. Candice gained her nursing specialist degree in 1999 and has held the Queen's Nurse title for the previous six years in recognition of her commitment to a high standard of patient care. She is also a member of various national panels and forums, including the Prime Minister's Care and Quality Forum and the district nursing forum at the Royal College of Nursing.

Mrs Cherry Edwards, headteacher at Bourne Abbey Church of England Primary Academy, was awarded an OBE for services to education in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2014. During her headship, the school received the highest accolade possible from Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education) in December 2007 with a top grading of "outstanding" in all departments and she also supervised the change over when the school became the first in Lincolnshire to be granted academy status in 2010.

Mrs Dorothy Alexander is the oldest person in Bourne to be honoured after receiving a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year Honours List in 2016 for services to the community at the age of 94. She moved to Bourne with her husband in 1946 and became a key figure in the local branch of the Women’s Institute and the Meals of Wheels service but is best known for her work with the youth of the town, helping found the Bourne Youth Centre where she became chairman of the management committee from 1986 until 2013.

Many of these awards also reflect the association the recipients have with their organisations, in this case the Civic Society, and of course the town of Bourne itself and so we should all be justly proud. The town has many more unsung heroes who give their time unstintingly for the good of others but who will never be so honoured. The awards also reflect the association the recipients have with their organisations and of course the town of Bourne itself and so we should all be justly proud.

REVISED JANUARY 2016