A teacher, farmer and lifelong football fan are among those in Tayside and Fife to be recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours List.
Ten residents of Courier Country were honoured for their work in their industries and communities.
Among them was V&A Dundee director Philip Long, who was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Lesley Knox, the former chairwoman of Design Dundee – which oversaw the creation of V&A Dundee – has also been made an OBE for services to culture.
Ms Knox, who now lives in London, is also the former chairwoman of Dundee company the Alliance Trust.
Recognition in the City of Discovery included High School of Dundee teacher Irene McGrath, who has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in recognition of her services to Scottish schools debating.
Irene, head of academic administration at the High School, said she was “shocked, surprised and delighted” by the award of the medal, after being involved in schools debating for 43 years.
Fife is home to three honours recipients – Marvyn Stewart, Amelia Mathewson and James “Hamish” McKay.
Marvyn, who is a volunteer with Dunfermline Athletic Supporters Club Shop and Tea Room, has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to football and to the community of Dunfermline.
The Pars supporter, who is in her 70s, has been at the helm of the tea room at East End Park which has raised more than £50,000 for the football club since it fell into administration in 2013.
Marvyn said the award was not just for her but for all of the Pars fan who pulled together to save the club.
Amelia Mathewson, 81, of Methil, better known as Amy, is to receive a BEM for services to the Levenmouth community.
Amy, an elder at Wellesley Parish Church, has been president of Methil’s Memorial Park Neighbourhood Centre since 1980.
She is also involved with several other groups in the area, including the Rotary Club of Buckhaven and Methil and Levenmouth Clothing Bank.
She said she was “gobsmacked” at the recognition.
Services to the Levenmouth community and to young people also earned a BEM for Hamish McKay.
The award-winning youth worker started Leven Youth Club, which continues to run on Friday evenings, at The Centre in 1972.
Forfar farmer Geordie Soutar was the sole Angus representative on the list.
He has been honoured with an MBE in recognition of his role in the conservation of the native Aberdeen-Angus cattle breed.
The 74-year-old established the Dunlouise herd in 1995 at a time when the number of cows with original genetics had fallen to critically dangerous levels.
He regularly welcomes visitors from across the globe to his Kingston Farm base near the Angus town.
In Perth and Kinross, Professor James Colville Laird was awarded with an MBE for services to pre-hospital emergency care.
Professor Laird’s medical career spanned decades, having practised as a GP in Auchterarder for 31 years.
He was the medical director of the British Association of Immediate Care (BASICS) Scotland from 2003 until December 2018.
A Kinross grandmother who set up a medical clinic in Ethiopia to help thousands of women has also been made an MBE.
Jo Middlemiss, 71, launched the Ethiopia Medical Project (EMP) with her cousin Maureen Burnett 10 years ago.
They transformed a tiny centre in Baccuma that had been inundated with patients suffering with painful uterine prolapse.
Staff there were struggling to cope without enough food or medical resources.
Also among the Perthshire honours is Roderick Riddell. The vice-chairman of the Black Watch Association is to receive an OBE for services to veterans.
Based at Balhousie Castle in Perth, the retired lieutenant-colonel works with the charity to assist veterans who are in need due to their age, physical or mental health.
In the military division of the New year Honours list was Fifer Lieutenant Colonel Richard James McCord of the The Royal Logistic Corps, who has been made an MBE.
Now a major and in the reserves, he lived in Tayport before joining the forces in 1981.
Known as Jo, he trained as a driver in the Royal Corps of Transport before switching to the Airborne Brigade as a para-trained warrant officer.
Lt Col McCord served in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, the Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Afghanistan.
He has also been deployed to Belize, Kenya, Norway, Canada and the Falklands.
In Afghanistan, he was one of the first army officers to be given command of a company of Royal Marines; doing so in the Upper Sangin Valley.
He retired from the regular army in October 2019 aged 55 and now lives in St Andrews with wife Lynne.
A keen cyclist, he also commands the A (St Andrews) Squadron of the Tayforth University Officers Training Corps.
Lt Col McCord dedicated the MBE to his nephew Liam Tasker, and to other friends and colleagues who died serving their country.
Army colleague Brigadier Patch Reehal MBE said, “We would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt congratulations to Lieutenant Colonel Jo and Mrs Lynne McCord on the incredible news that Her Majesty The Queen has bestowed the honour of Member of the British Empire (MBE) upon Jo, in the New Year’s Honours List 2020.
“An inspirational leader, husband, father and grandfather, Jo retired from the British Army this year after 40 years of service to the British Crown: private soldier to Lieutenant Colonel.
“Jo’s has been the leadership that served to lead and led to serve, that taught us to not walk by; the man and the standard we turned to and who we all aspire to emulate.”
