MBE for Garstang woman in New Year Honours

Dawn Cheetham has been awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours.

The 57-year-old is honoured for services to business and to the community in Lancashire.

She is a school governor and a member of the Finance and Audit Committee of Ripley St Thomas CE Academy in Lancaster.

Prior to her appointment in 2014 she also served a five year term as a school governor at St Thomas School in Garstang.

Dawn has made a significant contribution to the North & Western Lancashire Chambers of Commerce as an unpaid non-executive director.

Through her work, the Chamber has seen a 20 per cent increase in its membership resulting in a 23 per cent increase in membership income.

For the last 30 years Dawn maintained generous support to the Be Inspired Business Awards (BIBAs) Foundation - a foundation founded as a charity to raise funds and offer grants up to £5,000 to 16 to 24-year-olds in the county to develop skills, expand and build businesses.

She is also involved in a local youth club, the Highfield Kidz Club, where she is instrumental in organising excursions to places that the children wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to visit.

She plays the church piano at the SSMCC in Blackpool, Methodist Church in Garstang and Leyton Methodist Church, and for more than 10 years she has volunteered her services as a church youth worker.