Mountain rescuer made MBE after decades of service

A mountain rescuer who has spent half a century keeping visitors to the Peak District safe is among Derbyshire residents named in the King's Birthday Honours.

John Mottram was one of the first volunteers to join Kinder Mountain Rescue Team in 1971 and aged 80 still helps out "with a sweeping brush and a teapot" back at base.

He said he was "very surprised" to be made an MBE alongside more than 1,180 other recipients who have contributed to community and country in His Majesty The King's Birthday Honours List 2026.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the honours "speak to the decent, hopeful country we are proud to be".

Mottram, of Buxworth, near Chinley, said when he first joined the fell rescue volunteers the fledgling organisation would expect to see only a handful of incidents a year.

He said: "When I first started, we were lucky to do two or three, four or five call-outs in a year, but now sometimes we've approached the 70s."

Over the years as a 24-hour on-call volunteer he has worked to develop communications systems used by mountain rescue teams, while also supporting Derbyshire Cave Rescue "on the surface" since 2006, and for almost 50 years managing collections and helping to raise more than £62,000.

Among the situations he has been called to were the response to the potential collapse of the dam wall at Whaley Bridge in 2019, while the Kinder teams were among those drafted to help the sweeping of the countryside for debris in the wake of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988.

He said: "I can safely say that I was very surprised at the honour. And I really didn't think what I've been doing made me any more special than anybody else.

"There's a degree of trepidation, I suppose you could say, but I'm looking forward - but it'll be a good while, I understand, before it gets around to my turn to be presented."

Elsewhere in Derbyshire, Steven Carlier from Belper has been appointed CBE, for services to defence.

President of Rolls-Royce Submarines, Carlier joined Rolls-Royce in Derby in 1988, and among his achievements led the Astute and Dreadnought Class programmes.

Glossop arts leader Helen Bowder has been made an OBE for services to culture, as has national head of Asbestos and Occupational Disease for Irwin Mitchell Solicitors Adrian Budgen, from Bakewell, for his work with victims and their families.

Receiving the same honour are Mental Health Motorbike charity founder Paul Oxborough, from Chesterfield, and Paul Pitts, a Buxton-based scientist with the Department for Work and Pensions who specialises in noise and vibration.

As well as mountain rescuer Mottram, the MBE honour has also been bestowed on Robert Barlow for services to sustainable manufacturing and his charity work.

Barlow founded TDP Ltd in 1991, which has pioneered environmentally-friendly products made from plastic waste.

David Radford, of Chesterfield, has been made an MBE for services to epilepsy care, while Dronfield resident Lucille Windle has been recognised for her work as an executive headteacher at Nexus academies trust who has worked to improve education for pupils with special educational needs across South Yorkshire.

And those who can now add OBE to the end of their name include Mary Boam, manager at Hulland Community Pre-school in Ashbourne, and Belper's Catherine Repton, founder of The Friends of the Baby Unit at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust.

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