New Year Honours 2023: Exeter rugby boss appointed CBE

Tony Rowe said he first checked that the email telling him about the CBE was not an online scam

The chairman of Devon's top rugby club has been appointed a CBE for services to sport.

Exeter Chiefs chairman and chief executive Tony Rowe has been honoured for services to rugby and to the city's community.

He said that he first checked that it was not an online scam when he received his notification by email.

He added that it was "fantastic", but also paid tribute to his teams "on and off the pitch".

He has been described by the club as the "driving force behind the Chiefs for over 20 years" who had helped with sponsorship and "guide them from the National Leagues to that of Premiership champions".

The Chiefs won the Premiership in 2017 and 2020, and were also European Champions Cup winners in 2020.

He said: "It's really fantastic.

"I found out by email and did a double-check to see if it was a scam, but it was genuine."

He added: "I couldn't have done what I have done without the teams I've got round me; the team on the pitch or the team off the pitch. They enable me to do the work I do."

The latest honour comes after Mr Rowe was appointed an OBE for services to business, sport and charity in 2012.

Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police Will Kerr was awarded a King's Policing Medal

Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez tweeted congratulations to Chief Constable Will Kerr who was awarded a King's Policing Medal and Insp Mark Rushton who was appointed MBE.

"Great to see recognition by His Majesty for outstanding work for policing across the UK and beyond," she said.

Long-term foster carer Kerry Ann James, from Plymouth, who has been awarded a BEM for services to fostering, told BBC Radio Devon: "I knew of children who were in foster care and they did not seem to have the best kind of life and I didn't think that was right.

"I thought these poor little people have had their world turned upside down and they needed something more and I thought I could do that."

Other honours recipients from Devon include:

• Pauline Barker, from Plymouth and founder of Devon and Cornwall Wild Swimming, who has been appointed an MBE for services to swimming in south-west England

• Angela Bennett, who has been awarded a BEM for voluntary service to the community in Plymouth, Devon

• Dr Ross Hemingway, from Exeter, who has been appointed an OBE for services to the Royal Marines for his work at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines

• Edward Kersey, who has been appointed an OBE for services to young people and to the Bideford Boxing Club

• Alison Kohler, the former conservation director of Dartmoor National Park, who has been awarded a BEM for services to conservation in Devon

• Julia Meredith, who has been awarded a BEM for services to the community in Budleigh Salterton, Exeter and East Devon

• Marie Whitehead, who has been awarded a BEM for services to the community in Dawlish