Bernstein among recipients of New Year Honours
A former Football Association chairman, a rabbi who promotes interfaith dialogue and a mother who has helped thousands of bereaved families are among those recognised in the New Year’s Honours List.
David Bernstein, Rabbi Mark Winer and Shelley Gilbert can all look forward to visiting Buckingham Palace to pick up their gongs after being feted alongside 1,200 other local heroes and celebrities.
After stepping down from his FA role in July at the age of 70, Bernstein said he was “delighted” to receive a CBE. The incoming British Red Cross chair – who has also previously chaired Manchester City and Wembley at the time of its construction – added: “My greatest satisfaction at the FA was being involved with development at the grassroots and in disabled football, and then in anti-discrimination.”
The Reform Movement wished a hearty mazeltov, meanwhile, to Utah-born former West London Synagogue minister Rabbi Mark Winer – awarded an MBE for his services to interfaith dialogue and social cohesion in the UK.
Chairman of the International Interfaith Taskforce for Progressive Judaism and twice chaplain to the Lord Mayor of Westminster, the Utah-born minister also played a role in events leading to the treaty establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and the Vatican.
Also picking up an MBE is inspirational Woodside Park shul member and trained counsellor Shelley Gilbert, who established Grief Encounter from her home after penning a best-selling book of the same name to encourage conversations about death between adults and children.
A decade on and now one of the UK’s leading child bereavement charities, the organization now works with 50 counsellors and offers an information-packed website, residential camps and referrals. It has also attracted support from a host of celebrities and includes Kevin Wells, the father of murdered schoolgirl Holly, among its patrons.
“I am absolutely bowled over by the thought that the little orphaned girl from Edgware will be shortly visiting the palace to receive an MBE from royalty,” said Gilbert, who said her thoughts are with the uncle and aunt who adopted her. “The death of my own parents at such a young age taught me that the most important thing in life is family. My family, as extended to the Myers and Gilberts, genuinely encourage me at every step of the way and I could never have achieved what I have without them.”
Honoured for their work in the arts are acclaimed West end producer and former National theatre director Michael Codron – who becomes Sir Michael at the age of 82 after and Alex Rider author Anthony Horowitz, who is made a n order of the British Empire for services to literature. In addition to selling an estimated 19 million copies of his books about the teenage spy, the 58-year-old’s television work includes writing early episodes of Midsomer Murders and the long-running wartime detective show Foyle’s War.
Others to be honoured by Her Majesty include Redbridge Councillor Alan Weinberg (MBE), Chaverim founder Philip Brandeis (BEM) and Isaac Schapira, a leading figure in Israel’s Cheredi community.
He said after being named an officer of the order of the British Empire on the overseas list: “As the first person to receive an honour for building links between the Haredi community and the British Government, I see this award as a mark of great respect for our community.”
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