New Years Honours 2024: Oxford cycling campaigner appointed MBE

Dr Alison Hill, from Oxford, has been recognised for her efforts over the past 18 years

A cycling campaigner has become an MBE in the New Year Honours list.

Dr Alison Hill, from Oxford, has worked with various cycling charities and is being recognised for her efforts over the past 18 years.

As a former public health doctor, she wanted to promote the physical and mental health benefits of cycling, as well as its environmental impact.

She said she was touched and emotional to be honoured, adding: "This has been my life's passion for many years now."

Dr Hill is campaigning for safer roads in the Oxfordshire

In 2005 she began working with Cycling England, an independent body funded by the Department for Transport, before joining charity Cyclox in 2008 - a charity supporting cycling in Oxford.

She then became chair of Bikeability when it formed in 2017.

The charity provides the Department for Transport's flagship national cycle training programme for schoolchildren in England.

Dr Hill stood down from Bikeability this year but continues her charitable work in Oxfordshire, where she is campaigning for safer roads in the county.

This was inspired by the deaths of three women on Oxford roads in 2022.

Andrew Day, head of The Unicorn School in Abingdon, has been made an MBE

Elsewhere in Oxfordshire, Andrew Day, head teacher of The Unicorn School in Abingdon, has been appointed MBE for services to education.

For 30 years the school has helped children with neurodiversity, including dyslexia, dyspraxia, speech and language issues, as well as autism.

The school recently bought a second building with the aim to double its pupil numbers from 120 to 240 in the next few years.

Mr Day, who joined the school as head in 2015, said: "I am truly honoured to receive this award, but I share it with all the inspirational, highly skilled, and dedicated teachers and staff at The Unicorn School, who transform the lives of our students daily.

"We know that our students learn differently, so we teach differently, yet we do it in a way that no one is made to feel different."

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