NEW Year is off to a dazzling start as hundreds of Covid heroes are rewarded with gongs for work during the pandemic.
Fundraisers such as Tobias Weller, 11, appear alongside familiar expert advisers on the New Year Honours list.
The youngest person on record to feature in the New Year Honours said yesterday he was “chuffed to bits”.
Tobias Weller, 11 who has cerebral palsy and autism, was nicknamed Captain after being inspired by his hero Captain Sir Tom Moore to start raising money during the lockdowns.
He has been handed a British Empire Medal after raising more than £157,000 for Paces School, where he is a student, and The Children’s Hospital Charity, in his home city of Sheffield.
Tobias said: “It feels absolutely amazing to be honoured by the Queen.”
Max Woosey, 12, from Braunton in Devon, has raised more than £570,000 for North Devon Hospice by spending every night in a tent since March 28, 2020.
He has also been awarded the British Empire Medal.
He was inspired to help the hospice after staff cared for a close family friend, 74-year-old Rick Abbott, in the last days of his life.
The two youngsters are among hundreds of ordinary Brits given gongs for doing extraordinary things.
The oldest winner was 102 year-old magician Henry Lewis from Stanmore, North London, who is the Honorary Vice President of The Magic Circle. He has been performing tricks since he was eight years old.
He is made an MBE for fundraising and told The Celeb Report: “I’m so very proud, and still going strong, and still performing in my care home.
“The only complaint was that my show was too short.” He said of the honour: “I’m very fortunate that I’m still here to get it – they can’t leave it too late to hand it to me!”
Britain’s Covid heroes were handed gongs for battling the virus.
Covid press conference favourites Prof Chris Whitty, Jonathan Van Tam and Jenny Harries are all handed top awards.
Top doctor Prof Whitty and popular “JVT” both receive knighthoods.
Dr Harries becomes a Dame, while Sir Patrick Vallance gets his knighthood upgraded to the prestigious Knight Commander of the order of the Bath.
As 2022 dawns, confidence is growing that further curbs to guard against Omicron may not be necessary this month.
They joined sporting heroes in being rewarded for their success in 2021.
In total 1,278 people were handed gongs.
The majority (63 per cent) go to ordinary members of the public for work in their community.
It is also the most diverse list, with 15.1 per cent of the winners from an ethnic minority, while 612 women were recognised.
Praising them all last night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “These recipients have inspired and entertained us and given so much to their communities in the UK or in many cases around the world.
“The honours are an opportunity for us to thank them, as a country, for their dedication and outstanding contribution.”
Vaccine rollout boss Dr Emily Lawson — who has worked alongside The Celeb Report’s Jabs Army campaign — has also been recognised and made a Dame.
She said: “I am honoured and delighted to be recognised on behalf of the army of dedicated and hardworking staff and volunteers who have delivered the biggest and most successful vaccination programme in health service history.”
Dr June Raine, boss of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, which ensured the jabs were safe, has been made a Dame.
Dedicated Natalie O’Rourke, 46, won one of our Who Cares Wins awards in September – and now she’s picked up a fresh gong.
The manager of London’s Park Lane Stables, which offers access to horses for disabled and vulnerable people, has been honoured with an MBE.
Money Saving Expert website chief Martin Lewis, who received an OBE in 2014, gets a CBE for setting up a pandemic finance helpline.
Tony Blair is now Sir Tony after being given the most prestigious knighthood by the Queen.
Her Majesty has personally made the ex-Labour PM a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
