NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST - Charity workers, actor, shoe designer and councillor among those selected

Published: 06 January 2011
by DAN CARRIER and JOSIE HINTON

THEY range from charity volunteers to music lovers, fashion designers to actors: the 2011 New Year Honours list includes a diverse range of people from Camden who will be invited to Buckingham Pal­ace in the spring to accept a gong for their life’s work.

Among those recog­nised are Hampstead-based couple Simon and Pamela Majaro. The husband-and-wife team, who have both been awarded MBEs, set up the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust in 1998 and have helped raise funds for free concerts in schools. They also run a scheme providing young people – aged 8 to 25 – with free tickets to see some of the world’s leading chamber orchestras in action at some of London’s greatest classical music venues.

Mr Majaro, whose hobbies include making copies of the world-famous Stradivarius violins and other string instruments, said he was prompted to set up the Trust after noticing the people who sat around him at various concerts.

He said: “My wife and I saw that whenever we went to hear chamber music at places like Wigmore Hall, it was always the same people in the audience, and we were all getting older together. It was distressing to think that when we go, there would not be a younger generation to enjoy this wonderful music.”

The Trust now pays for orchestras to perform  free in schools – and more unusual venues such as the Swiss Cottage Library – to bring the delights of the genre to a wider and younger audience.

Mr Majaro added: “We have 27 venues now for children to go without paying and we give a subsidy to the venue, as well as paying for perfor­mances in school halls.”

He recalled his own youth and how magical he found being immersed in chamber music. His mother played the piano and his father the violin – meaning he was regularly exposed to chamber music in his childhood home. It had a long-lasting effect.

“Chamber music is a very intimate thing,” Mr Majaro said: “When you consider its history and the composers who wrote for it – Mozart, Haydn – it was played in smaller rooms, hence its name. Orchestral music has large numbers of musicians and can only be played in large halls. This can be intimidating. 

“Our aim to is to  make classical music accessible for all, which is the key to chamber music, and we are very honoured for our work to have been recognised.”

Leader of Camden Council, Labour councillor Nasim Ali (pictured) – known as Nash – has been awarded an OBE. The councillor has a track record of working on community groups for more than 25 years. He said he was thrilled to be honoured – and thanked his fellow councillors for their support and help, and the tireless work of the Town Hall’s officers who put policy into practice. 

His time as a community activist included volunteering for the Camden Monitoring Group, back in the dark days of the 1980s when there was widespread fears of racism within the police force. He also volunteered at the King’s Cross Neighbourhood Association, and was the cabinet member for community safety following the bombings on July 7, 2005. When the award was announced, Cllr Ali was personally congratulated by the president and Prime Minister of Bangladesh, where his family comes from, but he added he felt his work reached beyond artificial boundaries of ethnicity. He said: “It has always been about bringing people together, about social cohesion in Camden. We are such a diverse borough with such a strong sense of community. My work has been about ensuring a better quality of life and higher standards of services for all.”

Camden Society chairman Gerard Oppenheimer has been awarded an OBE for services to the voluntary sector – and has warned that charities face a difficult time ahead as they face squeezes on budgets and expectations to make up shortfalls in services caused by public spending cuts.

Mr Oppenheimer, who lives in West Hampstead, has chaired the disability rights charity since 2009. Previous roles include director of policy and partnerships at the National Lottery and working for the Big Lottery fund, running the rule over applications and making sure the charities that needed financial help were receiving it. He also worked for the Greater London Council as a housing officer in the early 1980s, helping charities working with young single homeless people. 

He said: “This is a very challenging time for charities. I can’t name one that is not worried about its income in the coming few years. Grants from central gover­nment will be affected, as will contracts for running services for local authorities. It is a real dilemma. Charities such as the Camden Society are very good at delivering high-quality and innovative services. There are fears that there will be bigger gaps that need to be filled – but quite how this will be done when money is tight has yet to be solved.”

Mr Oppenheimer also chaired the Bombings Relief Fund, which helped people affected by the events of the 7/7 bombings in London. 

John and Liz Soars, of Downshire Hill, each receive MBEs for services to teaching English as a foreign language after writing teaching materials used in more than 140 countries worldwide, which have sold more than 200 million copies.

Ms Soars recalled being “catapulted” into teaching in Tanzania at the age of 21. “That was my first experience of teaching with no qualifications,” she said. “ I’m not sure how I did it looking back – ignorance was bliss.”

Also recognised was Julius Schofield, who has been awarded an MBE for services to the fashion and textile industry. Mr Schofield, of Prince Arthur Road, Hampstead, was recognised for his seven-year role as chairman of Texprint – a charity that identifies young talent and helps get jobs with top designers. An Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art, Mr Schofield said the charity had found “stars.” “It’s an award for the charity really,” he added.

Other people honoured this year include the West Hampstead-based actor Burt Kwouk, who starred in the Pink Panther films as Peter Sellers’ faithful – and violent – butler Cato;  and also appeared in numerous James  Bond movies, including Goldfinger. He has been awarded an OBE for services to drama.

Primrose Hill-based shoe designer Beatrix Ong (pictured) has been awarded an MBE. The high-end fashionista, whose shoes can cost £500, was given the award for services to the fashion industry. But in her citation she was praised for donating profits from limited edition sandals to causes such as Amnesty, the Red Cross and Macmillan Cancer Relief.