Queen's honours for Northbrook principal and butterfly saviour

The Worthing community is celebrating after making it into the Queen's Birthday Honours List, not once but twice this year.
Sue Dare and Neil Hulme made this year's Queen's Birthday Honours listSue Dare and Neil Hulme made this year's Queen's Birthday Honours list
Sue Dare and Neil Hulme made this year's Queen's Birthday Honours list

A former Northbrook College principal and a naturalist who helped save a rare butterfly from extinction were honoured.

Former college Northbrook College principal Sue Dare was made an MBE for her services to education

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Sue, who has worked in Further Education in Sussex for over 35 years in a variety of roles, was principal between November 2009 and March 31 this year, when it merged with City College Brighton to become Greater Brighton Metropolitan College.

During her time as principal the college became England’s third highest performing college in the league tables of achievement rates published by the National Data Service.

She said: “I am thrilled to receive this honour which recognises all of us who worked so hard over the past years, especially my fantastic colleagues and our students and apprentices.

“My ambition for Northbrook was that young people, adults and employers think of the college as the first and best choice for vocational education in our locality and, with the willing support of our local Adur and Worthing community, I believe we achieved this.”

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Naturalist Neil Hulme, 56, was awarded a British Empire Medal for his long-standing services to wildlife conservation.

Neil, from Worthing, works as a project officer for wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation (BC) and has devoted much of his life to protecting butterflies and moths.

He is credited with saving the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly from extinction in Sussex and has made a major contribution to protecting rare and vulnerable species.

Neil said: “It is a great honour to be recognised in this manner and I’m absolutely delighted, but the conservation of butterflies is always a team effort, so it is equally a recognition of my colleagues, and particularly the volunteers of Butterfly Conservation Sussex.

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“This is also for my parents: my passion for butterflies and dedication to helping them is entirely their fault!”

Dr Dan Hoare, Butterfly Conservation’s head of regions, said: “Neil is a force of nature, and his infectious enthusiasm, deep knowledge acquired through years of studying butterflies in the wild, and passionate commitment to the hard work of nature conservation mark him out as a rarity himself.”

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