Leader in North’s fight for peace set to receive OBE for work
Dan McGinn
A FORMER Moderator of the Presbyterian Church was honoured by Queen Elizabeth yesterday for his efforts to bridge the sectarian divide in the North.
The Rev Ken Newell, a minister in Fitzroy Presbyterian Church in Belfast since 1976, will receive an OBE for services to community relations.
The 62-year-old Presbyterian minister has been at the forefront of efforts to heal sectarian divisions during and after the Troubles.
Working with priests in west Belfast’s Clonard Monastery, he took part in groundbreaking secret talks with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in 1990 in a bid to bolster efforts to secure a ceasefire.
His ecumenism has been fiercely criticised by some Protestant clergy, with the Rev Ian Paisley’s Free Presbyterian Church particularly critical.
The queen has also awarded an OBE to Lady Ann Eames, a member of Northern Ireland’s Human Rights Commission and the wife of the Anglican Primate of all-Ireland, Archbishop Robin Eames, for services to the community.
OBEs have also been awarded to Patrick Yu, executive director of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities, and the headmaster of the Methodist College in Belfast, Thomas Wilfred Mulryne.
Veteran actress, Olivia Nash, familiar to TV viewers for her role as Ma in the BBC sitcom ‘Give My Head Peace’, will receive an MBE for her work in drama and charity.
The sole knighthood will go to one of the North’s wealthiest man, Dr Allen McClay, who founded the pharmaceutical company Galen Holdings and who is a major benefactor for Queen’s University.
Two serving councillors and one former councillor have also been included.
Democratic Unionist councillor Wilfred McFadden, who has been a member of Banbridge District Council for 33 years, will receive an MBE.
MBEs have also been awarded to the DUP Mayor of Ballymena, Tommy Nicholl, who has served on the council for 24 years, and a former founder member of the cross community Alliance Party, Susan O’Brien.
