BIRD enthusiast Bernard Wright, 66, of Clutton, Broxton, has been made an MBE for services to ornithology and conservation in the New Year's Honours List.

Mr Wright said: 'I am thrilled. It was totally unexpected, and I feel it should be shared with many other local people.'

For a decade Mr Wright was leader of the Chester group of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and has been involved in many RSPB conservation and awareness projects.

When ravens nested on the Chester Town Hall and Chester Cathedral in 1997, he installed cameras linked to the tourist office and later to the cathedral refectory to promote awareness of conservation. nRetired solicitor and Chester resident William Lawton was made an OBE for services to health.

For 17 years, while living in the city, he has been chairman of the Pain Relief Foundation.

The group was set up in the mid-1970s by eminent doctors looking for solutions to chronic pain and in the last 30 years it has made significant progress.

Mr Lawton said: 'Before I was asked to chair the group I knew very little about their work but I have become very involved with their aims and achievements. This honour is really a recognition of the work that they do.'

Parents Against Drug Abuse (PADA) project development manager Lynn Clare has also been made an MBE for her work with PADA, the award winning national organisation that delivers support and services to the families of substance users across the United Kingdom.

Mrs Clare started PADA in Ellesmere Port and Chester in 1990 with the help of family and friends.

In 1994 they established a 24-hour national helpline for family members affected by someone else's drug use, which now deals with 15,000 calls every year.

She said: 'I feel very proud but also humbled. I may be the person whose name is in the paper but PADA wouldn't exist without my amazing band of volunteers and the loyal staff who every day offer hope to families across the country.'

Brian Kerr, 71, was proud to be honoured with an OBE for public service in regional government.

Chairman of Saughall and Shotwick Parish of Council, Mr Kerr also served as a Liberal city councillor.

He said: 'I accepted primarily for my family. They had to bear the burden of my public commitments.'

Eric Gordon Wright has been rewarded with an MBE for 50 years of looking after Delamere Forest.

Mr Wright, of Tiverton, is 65 in April and the honour is the ideal way to bring his career to a close. nAlexandra Timpson was made an MBE for services to children and the family.

Mrs Timpson, of Tarporley, is a moth-er-of-five but over the last three decades she has fostered more than 80 children.

Dorothy Cartwright, 64, a court usher at Chester Crown Court for 20 years, was made an MBE.

Mrs Cartwright, of Ince, said: 'I was surprised but delighted.'