Queen's Birthday Honours for sporting and charity champions

Disability campaigner Ceri Davies, aged 30, from Kingswinford, is among people from the Dudley borough to have been bestowed with an award in this year's honours, which were delayed due to the Covid-19 crisis, for having made a difference to the lives of those around them.

Ceri, aged 30, founder of Dudley community interest company More Mascots Please, has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for her services to people with disabilities and people with life-limiting illnesses.

Ceri Davies

As the result of a tethered cord at birth - wheelchair-bound Ceri has spina bifida and cerebral palsy, and in recent years she has been hospitalised with sepsis recurrently.

Determined Ceri, however, has gone above and beyond to help more than 500 disabled, disadvantaged and terminally ill children who need support to get through their everyday lives.

Through her More Mascots Please organisation she has organised many events with party games, face painting, nail art, glitter tattoos as well as fun mascots - and she has also raised funds by holding variety nights, trips, fashion shows and quizzes.

Ceri has also been a governor for Birmingham Children's Hospital and was honoured in a local Character Portraits Project which was launched in April 2019 by Midland Film and Art.

Meanwhile, Oliver Chambers from Amblecote has been awarded the MBE for services to the community in Birmingham during the Covid-19 pandemic

Mr Chambers, aged 38, is a trustee and volunteer with Birmingham Vernon Sea Cadets in Ladywood.

When face-to-face sea cadet activity was halted, commanding officer Lieutenant Chambers - who has 18 years of service to the sea cadets - became a driving force in the development and delivery of virtual activities to keep the unit cadets and adults engaged and involved.

The sea cadet volunteering led him to become a vital part of a number of charitable enterprises supporting communities and families in need amid the coronavirus crisis in Ladywood, Birmingham.

In three months, he has volunteered almost 500 hours to the North Smethwick Development Trust (NSDT), helping deliver food to the community as part of Your Local Pantry Smethwick - a division of the local food bank.

He also made the sea cadet unit one of the first to move to the virtual activity that has proved a vital lifeline to many. As well as providing and delivering online training, he ensured all young people and shielded adults in the unit received a weekly call to check on their welfare with face to face activities suspended.

Before Covid-19 he ran a successful hotel, which he has had to temporarily close. He has since thrown himself tirelessly into volunteer work, supporting others and bringing his business management and operational experience to benefit others.

Dudley snooker star Reanne Evans has also been awarded an MBE for services to women's snooker.

Reanne Evans

The 35-year-old is ranked number one on the World Women's Snooker Tour and she has won the world women’s snooker championship a record 12 times, with 10 consecutive titles between 2005 and 2014 and further wins in 2016 and 2019.

After winning 61 consecutive women's matches and defeating reigning world champion John Higgins 4’3 at the 2009 World Six-Reds Championship, Reanne was awarded a wild card on the professional main tour for the 2010-11 season which made her the first woman to play on the main professional snooker tour since Allison Fisher in 1994-95.

In 2013, she qualified for the Wuxi Classic as an amateur competitor, becoming the first woman ever to reach the final stages of a ranking snooker tournament.

Reanne received a wildcard to the qualifying rounds of the World Snooker Championship in 2015, and from 2017-19. Her best performance was reaching the second qualifying round in 2017 by defeating Robin Hull which made her the first woman ever to win a World Championship match.

Reanne is not the only snooker star from the borough to be recognised by The Queen.

Stourbridge based snooker legend Rex Williams has been honoured with a BEM for services to snooker and billiards.

Snooker legend Rex Williams, centre.

Rex, now aged 87, was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame in 2016 after a hugely successful billiards and snooker playing career.

For over 20 years he was also a commentator on snooker in the UK and around the world.

He became a professional player at the age of 17 in 1951 and in 1969 he became the founder and first chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association - which brought snooker and billiards to the world stage.

Between 1968 and 1983, he won the World Professional Billiard Championship seven times and his outstanding performances ensured billiards remained a national sport.

Rex is credited with reforming the Professional Snooker Championship from a challenge match basis to a knockout competition and attracted sponsors worldwide.

The sporting star played in the first BBC Pot Black series launched in 1969 and he was among the first players to tour South Africa and Australia.

And at 53 he became the oldest player to reach the final of a major ranking tournament.

The Lord-Lieutenant of the West Midlands, John Crabtree OBE said; “This year’s recipients showcase a range of outstanding achievements and provide an insight into the region and the people that make it so great. We are all very grateful for what they do each and every day and I am absolutely delighted to see so many gain the recognition they deserve in this year’s Birthday Honours.

“Through the activities of the West Midlands Lieutenancy, I come across many people providing support and giving their time to help others. Now more than ever, there are so many unsung heroes who deserve to be honoured but they need someone to nominate them. I would encourage people from across the region to get involved and think about who is making a difference in your local area so that we can continue to recognise these individuals for the great work they are doing.”

Details on how to nominate someone can be found on the West Midlands Lieutenancy website at wmlieutenancy.org.