Radio host, Olympic champion and football star among NI honours recipients

Singer and broadcaster Hugo Duncan, Olympic hero Hannah Scott and former international football captain Marissa Callaghan are among those from Northern Ireland recognised in the New Year Honours.

Duncan, Scott and Callaghan have all been made MBEs.

There are also honours for jazz musician Linley Hamilton and Co Fermanagh victims’ advocate Eric Brown, both of whom also become Members of the Order of the British Empire.

Co Londonderry charity fundraiser Ivan Black, who has raised more than £700,000 for cancer groups, has also been made an MBE, as has two-time Paralympian in the sport of boccia, Claire Taggart.

Michael Bloomfield, the chief executive of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Duncan dedicated his honour to his late mother who raised him as a single parent.

The popular BBC Radio Ulster star, affectionately known as “Uncle Hugo” and “the wee man from Strabane”, has been made an MBE for services to entertainment and to the community in Northern Ireland.

The 74-year-old from Co Tyrone spoke emotionally about how much he owes to his mother Susie, who died when he was 20, only two weeks after he married his wife, Joan.

“A one-parent family wasn’t as common as it is today, and she would have had a lot to go through in those days, and probably a lot of things said about her,” Duncan told the PA news agency.

“But she kept me, and she reared me and I’m here today and that’s one of the reasons that I want to accept this honour – it’s me saying ‘ma, we didn’t do too bad’.”

He added: “I just want to say, ‘thank you ma’.”

Reflecting with pride on her honour, gold medal winner Scott spoke of her desire to encourage young girls to stick with sport, amid evidence many stop competing during their teenage years.

The 25-year-old Coleraine rower was part of the Team GB women’s quadruples sculls crew that won a dramatic Olympic final in Paris during the summer.

Her crewmates Lauren Henry, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw have also been made MBEs in the New Year Honours.

“I’m proud, it’s a very nice surprise,” she told PA.

“I didn’t realise starting from a young age that rowing would be something that would lead me to such honours. But I guess it just shows that you’ve just got to follow what you love.

“And, for me, that was sport. And hopefully more young girls can realise that there’s actually some legitimacy in doing sport, especially growing up and staying within whatever they’re passionate about, whether that be volleyball, hockey, rowing or running.

“It can lead you down some really cool journeys and paths and that’s what I’ve been experiencing. And hopefully it just shines as a symbol of ‘just love what you do’ and hopefully it can repay you in rewards and everything like that.”

Callaghan is made an MBE at the end of a year that saw the 39-year-old Cliftonville Ladies midfielder stand down from captaining the Northern Ireland women’s team after eight years in the role.

The highlight of that stint undoubtedly came in 2022 when she led the team at its first international tournament at the European Championships in England.

Callaghan, from west Belfast, said the thing she takes most pride from during her time in football is the phenomenal surge in the number of young girls in Northern Ireland playing the game since the women’s senior side qualified for the Euros.

“I work for the Irish FA, and I’ve seen it on the ground that whenever Northern Ireland qualified for the Euros, so many young girls wanted to start playing the game,” she told PA last week.

“And there’s been a huge increase – we’re talking probably 600% increase – in girls playing football and a massive part of that was us being so successful.”