New Year Honours 2023: Arsenal Women's players commended

Kim Little playing for Arsenal in October against West ham has been made an MBE for her services to association football

Two Arsenal Women's players have been commended in the New Year Honours list.

Kim Little, 32, who lives in St Albans, Hertfordshire, has been appointed an MBE.

The former international retired from the Scotland team in 2021 having represented her country since she was 16. She made a total of 140 appearances and scored 59 goals for Scotland.

Her Arsenal teammate Leah Williamson, who is also England captain, has been made an OBE.

Williamson, who led the England team for their historic win in the Euros last summer, was born in Milton Keynes and is now based in St Albans.

Little said she was "incredibly honoured to receive an MBE alongside so many empowering and inspiring people".

"There is so much more I hope to contribute to the sport that I love and I feel passionately about continuing to make a valuable impact beyond my own playing experiences too," she said.

Other people in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire to be appointed MBE include:

• Imam Qazi Abdul Aziz Chishti, 75, one of the founding members of the Luton Council of Mosques and the Bismillah earthquake relief charity

• April Brown, 52, from Hitchin, who has devoted 35 years of her career to the NHS and was its first chief nurse from an ethnic minority background

• Bianca Sakol, 35, from Borehamwood, for her services to disadvantaged people including refugees

• Christopher Long, 68, from Harlington, Bedfordshire, commended for services to sport, charity and marine conservation as well as being Putteridge Swimming Club chairman

• Cynthia Tooley, 40, founder of the Jedidiah charity which has provided food parcels and meals to more than 5,500 families

Imam Qazi Abdul Aziz Chishti has served the Luton community and runs an international charity

Imam Qazi Abdul Aziz Chishti of Luton helped set up the council of mosques - Jamia Islamia Ghousia Trust - in 1986.

He has served as an honorary chaplain at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital and was the first Muslim chaplain for Bedford prison, joining as a volunteer in 1982.

He is the chairman of the Bismillah Charity, set up in 2005 to provide aid and education to more than 20 countries.

During the Covid-19 pandemic he risked his own health to ensure more than 100 Muslim burials could take place, leading the prayers.

The cleric and charity worker said he was inspired to serve the community by his father, who was also an imam.

"It is my honour and great privilege that I have been awarded on my services," he said.

"This award is not only for me - it is given to me, but it is for the combined efforts of my team which work with me and my community."

April Brown, who is currently advising NHS leaders, said it was her absolute privilege to be a registered nurse

April Brown began her nursing career in 1982. She was part of the receiving team that dealt with British people returning from China at the start of the pandemic in 2020, working out of Milton Keynes.

A chief nurse at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in King's Lynn in Norfolk, until 2021, Ms Brown was also the East of England's first chief nurse from an ethnic minority background.

Her career has spanned 34 years to date, having worked for the Care Quality Commission inspectors, the government's health department, and she now works with NHS leaders supporting trusts that require improvement.

Describing herself as a daughter of the Windrush generation, she also mentors others and is an active member of a healthcare leaders group for diverse women.

Ms Brown said she was "very proud and privileged" to be a registered nurse, describing her appointment as MBE as a "huge" honour.

"I was fostered at six weeks old, I was a looked-after child, failed my eleven plus [exam]. You never, ever think you'd be given an MBE," she said.

"I didn't speak for a few hours I was in such shock."

She also paid tribute to her colleagues and family who "supported me to be a good nurse. That's all I've ever wanted to be, a good nurse".

Bianca Sakol set up her charity Sebby's Corner to help those in need in January 2021

Bianca Sakol, 35, of Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, founded Sebby's Corner in January 2021 to help support young families in need during the coronavirus lockdown.

She has been appointed MBE for her services to disadvantaged people, particularly refugees.

To date, she has helped over 10,000 families across the south-east of England, delivering over 5,000 nappies, 1,200 items of clothing and hundreds of other items every month.

From mid-2021 the charity also distributed clothes and essential items to 3,000 Afghan refugee families, and in 2022 the charity supported more than 300 Ukrainian refugees.

On hearing about her honour, Ms Sakol said: "It was very, very unexpected; I was absolutely delighted by it.

"I feel honoured and privileged to have been given the award so soon after starting [the charity]."

Ukrainian refugee Alla, six months pregnant received help from Sebby's Corner having fled the war