New Year Honours: Vale Council leader recognised

Among those to be recognised is Wales’ chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton, of Penarth, who has been knighted.

Also receiving an honour is leader of Vale of Glamorgan Council Cllr Neil Moore, who has been given an OBE for services to the community.

Cllr Moore has held performed numerous roles in the Vale over the 33 years he has served as a councillor, and led the authority for five years before again becoming leader three years ago.

Alongside this, Cllr Moore has run Cadoxton Community Centre in Barry for about 20 years and has been a governor for around 11 different schools.

Cllr Moore said he was shocked at his inclusion on the honours list, but is extremely proud.

“I had never thought that such an honour would be bestowed upon me, despite my 33 years as a councillor, and the other roles I have undertaken in our community,” he said.

“I am not sure that I deserve it, but I accept it as an acknowledgement, not just for me, but also for my long-suffering family who have accepted that I have not given them as much of my time as I should have, by undertaking my duties.

“I would particularly like to acknowledge the role of my wife, Anne, who has been a councillor for 34 years too.

“She has often taken a back seat to allow me to carry out my political and community work, so this honour is as much for her and our family as it is for me. “I do not know who took it upon themselves to submit this commendation, but I would like to sincerely thank them for doing so.

“However, I would not have been able to have served the residents of the Vale of Glamorgan without the electorate in Cadoc having given me the opportunity to serve them.

“I would also like to thank council officers along with my colleague councillors from all sides for the politically spectrum or none, for having the confidence in me over the years and allowing me the opportunities to serve our community in various council roles.”

Meanwhile, Samia Saeed-Edmonds, of Penarth, has been awarded an MBE for services to the Covid-19 response.

Ms Saeed-Edmonds, 46, works for the Welsh Government as the planning director for NHS Wales.

She has been in the position for four years and has been responsible for leading Welsh Government's Covid planning and response across health and social care for the past two years.

Ms Saeed-Edmonds said: “My role has been to work across health and social care to make sure that we've got all the right actions in place to tackle whatever Covid has thrown at us.

“In one sense, it's been incredibly difficult, in the other it's been an absolute privilege to do that work because all I've done really is make sure that other people have got the tools that they need to be able to do their jobs properly.”

Ms Saeed-Edmonds has been working in NHS Wales for 22 years.

On receiving the honour, she said: “I feel slightly overwhelmed, but overall I think it is a privilege.

“I think it's something really special and I'm just really delighted to be able to receive the honour.”

Also awarded an MBE is Dr Subramaniam Balachandran, 59, a consultant anaesthetist and lead for infection control for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. He has been given the honour for his services to the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Balachandran is no stranger to pandemics, having been involved in the fight against the swine flu pandemic in 2009/2010.

As the health board's lead for infection control, he has been key in establishing strong infection control measures as well as PPE guidance.

Due to his proactive work starting mask-fitting sessions in October 2019, he was asked to fit test staff from other specialities in the health board and had led the team which carried out more than 3,200 mask fit testing events since the start of the Covid pandemic.

Dr Balachandran, of Cardiff, said he was “pleasantly surprised” when he heard that he would be awarded an MBE.

“It was slightly unexpected, but happy news, and I was pleasantly surprised,” he said.

“It’s good to know the work I’ve done has been recognised; the most important thing in any pandemic is preventing infection of patients and health workers; a lot of NHS workers do great jobs in various ways.

“We make it a safe environment to help maintain the workforce so they can look after patients. I’m proud of what I’m doing and hope to continue for many more years.”

Congratulating those who have received honours, Welsh secretary Simon Hart said: “I am once again inspired by the stories of the many people from across Wales who have deservedly been recognised on the New Year Honours list.

“During an extremely challenging year, these recipients have continued to make outstanding contributions to communities all over Wales.

“It is fantastic to see Welsh recipients from a wide range of backgrounds being recognised. I am thrilled that their commitment to their communities, sport and health services have been commended.

“I would like to congratulate all the worthy recipients and thank them for their invaluable work.”