Arts leader and inspiring Nottingham boxing coach among New Year’s Honours

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Shona Powell, left, and Marcellus Baz have both made the New Year's Honours list.

An inspiring Nottingham boxing coach and the boss of Lakeside Arts are among Nottinghamshire people awarded New Year’s Honours by the Queen.

Shona Powell, director of Lakeside Arts, has been given an OBE for her work at the centre.

Also honoured is Marcellus Baz, the former gang member who set up Nottingham School of Boxing and Switch Up in St Ann’s to turn young people from across the city away from crime and into sport.

Known as Baz, he has been given a BEM or British Empire Medal less than two weeks after winning the Get Inspired Unsung Hero award in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the year ceremony.

Tim Reddish, Nottingham’s chairman of the British Paralympic Assocation, is awarded the CBE. He already holds an OBE.

Video: Tim Reddish talking earlier this year about Team GB’s success in the Paralympics 

Penny Briscoe, also from Nottingham and Paralympics GB Chef de Mission, gets an OBE on top of the MBE she was awarded in 2013.

Shona Powell wins her OBE after being credited with transforming The University of Nottingham’s arts centre and museum Lakeside Arts into a major national asset.

Appointed in 2002, she is known for putting emphasis on the importance of young people to art and leading the centre in a family-friendly direction.

Audiences grew from 77,000 to almost a quarter of a million, and major exhibitions like LOWRY and Elizabeth Frink: The Presence of Sculpture won national acclaim.

Ms Powell said: “I am thrilled, however, no individual is solely responsible for the success of any arts initiative, and this also recognises the incredibly talented team — past and present — that I have been lucky to work with at Lakeside, my previous colleagues at The Lemon Tree, and all my colleagues and terrific artists across the regional and national initiatives of which we are part.”

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Ms Powell has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

PC Sam Flint, of Nottinghamshire Police, has been given a British Empire Medal.

She began work last year as a dedicated officer working with young people across Nottingham who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation or becoming victims or perpetrators of crime.

She is responsible for liaising with police and social care staff to keep young people safe and is well-known to hundreds of children who have been in the care system.

Nottinghamshire New Year’s Honours 2017: The list in full

Speaking about the job last last year, she said: “This role has been the most challenging and rewarding of my police career.

“One very complex young person told me that I was like a celebrity for all the children in care as they all knew Sam Flint as she was ‘their cop’. Every day is a learning experience working with such a vast range of agencies and the young people can be really inspirational.”

Lynn Saunders, Governor of HMP Whatton, gets an OBE.

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Professor Kevin Bales.

Kevin Bales, Professor of Contemporary Slavery in the School of Politics and International Relations, at the University of Nottingham, has been appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for his services to the global antislavery movement.

Professor Bales has advised numerous governments and the UN on trafficking and slavery policy.

His book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy has been published in 10 languages.

Desmond Tutu has said of his research: “Today we finally have the means to bring millions of slaves to freedom.”

Bill Clinton has also called his research a roadmap for slavery’s end.

Professor Bales said: “I am especially thrilled that the global anti-slavery movement is getting this kind of recognition. This is not an honour for me alone, but for all the people who are working towards wiping out slavery.”

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