King's birthday honours: MBE for maternity care champion

Judy Ledger MBE has devoted the last 40 years of her life to improving maternity services

A former nurse who has raised millions of pounds to improve maternity care has been appointed an MBE in the King's birthday honours.

After the premature death of her first three babies, Judy Ledger was driven to help others in the same plight and set up the Baby Lifeline charity in 1981.

She started by fundraising for a new incubator for the Coventry hospital where she worked and suffered the loss.

Since then, she has devoted her life to helping new mothers.

Becoming an MBE left her "absolutely stunned and emotional", the community champion said.

Over the last 40 years, she has championed maternity developments by fundraising for equipment for neonatal units and launching a scheme to provide midwifery bags to NHS trusts.

The mother of three and grandmother from Coventry, has also developed training courses for those that work in maternity care in the UK and abroad in countries ravaged by war.

In recognition of her work, Ms Ledger was awarded an Honorary Master's degree by the University of Coventry in 1994. In 2019, she received a prestigious Distinguished Service Medal from the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists.

Ms Ledger oversaw the sending of medical kits to Ukraine to help midwives support mothers giving birth there

She is among 68 people from across the Midlands to be honoured for their services to their communities.

HM The King's first Official Birthday Honours List includes recipients who have contributed significant amounts of service to their local communities and the country as a whole.

Many have been awarded for voluntary work - going above and beyond to help others, while asking for little recognition in return.

After seeing people suffer with water poverty, Karen Lynch says she was driven to help

Among those honoured is Karen Lynch, 54, from Rugby, who has also been appointed an MBE after donating her company's profits to provide clean water across the globe.

During her 10-year tenure as CEO of Belu Water, £5m was sent to WaterAid, a charity which helps to ensure thousands of people have access to clean drinking water and toilets in some of the most deprived areas.

Other honours recipients from Coventry and Warwickshire include:

CBE

• Michael King OBE, of the local government and social care ombudsman - for services to local government

• David Ring, the independent chair of National Shipbuilding Projects - for services to shipbuilding

OBE

• Elizabeth Brewin, former chief executive of Tommy's - for services to women's health

• Susan Cox, the founder and director of SMART-UK - for services to those struggling with addiction while in prison

MBE

• Delia Button, for services to the community in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

BEM

• Elizabeth Baitson, founder of High Net Connect - for services to business and to entrepreneurs

• Caroline Chadwick, director of the Biomedical Services Unit at University of Birmingham - for services to humane animal research