Dame Jackie Baillie said she was ‘humbled’ to be nominated by her constituents
Scottish Labour’s Jackie Baillie has become the first sitting MSP to be given a damehood or knighthood.
The party’s deputy leader received the honour for political and public service in the King’s first Birthday Honours.
Dame Jackie said the damehood, the female equivalent of a knighthood, was “totally unexpected”.
Sporting and cultural figures were also included in the list, including Scotland and Rangers player John Greig, who has been made a CBE.
Dame Baillie received the honour for political and public service. The MSP who has represented Dumbarton since the Scottish Parliament was created in 1999, became deputy leader of the party in 2020.
She said the honour was “totally unexpected”, with news of its award “coming as quite a shock”.
“I understand I was nominated by constituents, and when you have represented people for 24 years this is such a humbling experience,” she said.
“And so I was delighted to accept on that basis.”
Image source, SNS
John Greig said his honour was “most unexpected at my age”
Previously an MBE, John Greig becomes Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to football and the community in Scotland.
He credited his career with Rangers, for whom he made more than 700 appearances, and said the honour was “most unexpected at my age”.
“It’s a big honour and I look upon it as an honour to the club as well as myself,” he added.
Wheelchair tennis star and Paralympic gold medal winner Gordon Reid, former world no 1 for singles and doubles, becomes an OBE for services to tennis.
BBC Scotland’s Reporting Scotland presenter Sally Magnusson is made an MBE for services to people with dementia and their carers.
BBC Scotland presenter Sally Magnusson has been honoured for her charity work
She founded the charity Playlist for Life in 2013 after observing the effect of music on her mother’s dementia. It works with families and care homes to encourage people to develop a playlist of personally meaningful music for those with dementia.
She said: “It’s lovely to receive this award, not least because it recognises the importance of personally meaningful music to the wellbeing of people with dementia.
“Both my book, Where Memories Go, and the music and dementia charity I founded 10 years ago, Playlist for Life, are about helping families and individuals to find – and appreciate – periods of joy amid the devastation of this all-too-common illness.”
She added: “I hope my song-loving mother, Mamie, whose own years with dementia inspired it all, would be proud.”
Others working for health charities also received honours, including the founder of Cancer Card which supports cancer patients, who has been awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
Jen Hardy, who has stage four cancer said she wanted to help cancer patients in Scotland avoid the challenges she had faced, and said: “Receiving this award is more than I could have ever dreamed of. It consolidates the importance and purpose of what we do everyday,” she said.
Image source, John Devlin/Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice
Hospice chief Rhona Baillie led a campaign to raise £21m to build a new facility
Charity founder Cor Hutton, from Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, who became a quadruple amputee after contracting sepsis and was the first Scot to undergo a successful double hand transplant, was recognised for her work with Finding Your Feet.
She has undertaken several charity challenges, including climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, and is made an MBE for services to amputees and sepsis awareness.
A hospice chief who started her career in a chip shop has said being made an OBE “doesn’t happen” to people like her.
Rhona Baillie, chief executive of the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow, who started her career in a chip shop before moving into nursing, said it was a “total shock” to be among the King’s Birthday Honours recipients, as she becomes an OBE.
“I said to my husband: ‘This doesn’t happen to people like us.’ I’ve been working with an outstanding team and I have done for over 20 years at the hospice and it’s just a job that I absolutely love,” she added.
Mrs Baillie has been chief executive of the hospice since 2008 after doing the job on an interim basis since 2005, leading a campaign to raise £21m to create a purpose-built hospice facility in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park in 2016.
Image source, Mihaela Bodlovic/Scottish Ballet
Scottish Ballet’s Christopher Hampson said the honour would help “shine a light” on its work
From the arts sector, Scottish Ballet’s chief officer and artistic director, Christopher Hampson, and Scottish Opera chairman Peter Lawson are both being made CBEs.
Mr Hampson said he felt “very honoured”, adding that “this particular recognition really helps me to shine a light on all that we’re doing around Scotland and internationally”.
Scottish broadcaster Ken Bruce was also honoured as an MBE for services to radio, autism awareness and to charity. He appeared with his son, Murray, in the BBC programme Inside Our Autistic Minds earlier this year.
Now presenting a show on Greatest Hits Radio after stepping down from a 31-year career at BBC Radio 2, he said: “This is a great surprise and privilege.
“I hope it might help highlight the many difficulties autistic people face.”
Image source, PA Media
Ken Bruce was made an MBE for services to radio, to autism awareness and to charity
Several people were given honours for their role providing logistical support following the death of the late Queen, plans which were drawn up as Operation Unicorn.
Among them was Transport Scotland director Hugh Gillies, who becomes an OBE for services to transport during what he described as the “most complex logistical exercise of our generation” to deliver events which “put Scotland on the global scale, albeit in very sad circumstances”.
He said the public “played a crucial role” at the time and “everyone played their part in difficult circumstances to deliver something we can look back on with a great sense of achievement”.
Image source, PA Media
Several people were given honours for their role providing logistical support following the death of the late Queen
Liz Tait, from Lossiemouth, an emergency response volunteer for the British Red Cross has also been recognised for her assistance with the Queen’s state funeral, being given an British Empire Medal.
The 65-year-old, who is originally from Kilmarnock, volunteered during the week of public queuing as the Queen lay in state last September, helping to support members of the public. More recently, she helped Britons flee Sudan when conflict broke out.
She said: “It is so important to be able to do this work in order to ensure people who are in crisis or affected by disasters can receive the correct support.”
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “My warmest congratulations go to all the Scottish recipients of the King’s Birthday honours.
“Scots are well represented in His Majesty’s first Honours list, which showcases the best of Scottish talent – including sport, the arts, community and education.”
The honours system
- Companion of Honour – Limited to 65 people. Recipients wear the initials CH after their name
- CBE – Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- OBE – Officer of the Order of the British Empire
- MBE – Member of the Order of the British Empire
- BEM – British Empire Medal
