Josie Hinton THE widow of a murdered Maida Vale headteacher has received an MBE for her services to charity. Frances Lawrence, who was married to former St George s RC School headteacher Philip Lawrence, received the accolade in this year s Queen s Birthd

Josie Hinton

THE widow of a murdered Maida Vale headteacher has received an MBE for her services to charity.

Frances Lawrence, who was married to former St George's RC School headteacher Philip Lawrence, received the accolade in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Mr Lawrence was stabbed to death in 1995 while trying to protect a 13-year-old pupil who was being attacked by a gang outside the school in Lanark Road.

A year later, Mrs Lawrence set up the Philip Lawrence Awards in his memory.

The awards celebrate outstanding citizenship by groups of young people between the ages of 11 and 20.

Published on Saturday, the Queen's Honours List has recognised people across Westminster for their outstanding achievements.

Curline Hibbert, a care assistant for Westminster Council, has also been awarded an MBE for services to local government.

The 67-year-old has been recognised for 20 years of unbroken services to thousands of elderly and vulnerable people in their homes.

She said: "It's a great honour to get an MBE and I feel very pleased and very privileged.

"I intend to wear it with pride and show it off to all the people I visit."

Ms Hibbert started working for the council in 1985 and previously worked in a similar role for other local authorities. Adult and community services director Marian Harrington said: "Curline is a loyal and highly valued employee who cares for many vulnerable people, who often have no-one else to look after them.

"Her days are dedicated to the service of others and she thoroughly deserves this recognition."

From the business world, high-flying chief executive of Sanctuary Spa Group, Alice Avis from Westbourne Park, has been awarded a MBE for services to the beauty industry.

The 47-year-old former marketing director of Marks & Spencer joined Sanctuary in 2001.

She has also worked as the global brand director for the Scotch whisky brand Johnnie Walker.

"I'm delighted," she said. "It came as quite a surprise, but mostly I feel pleased for the Spa and the brand, because I think the honour really reflects the efforts of the team."

Elsewhere, Peter Rowland Taylor, who lives near Warwick Avenue, was awarded an OBE for services to the tyre industry.

Mr Taylor, who has worked in the industry for 40 years, said he was "surprised, but delighted nevertheless" to receive the honour.

He said his biggest career achievement was finding a way to recycle that is also commercially viable.

"Particularly in recent years with the emphasis on recycling in this country - we have to recycle 100 per cent of used tyres - we've introduced a programme that achieves that in the context of the free market," he said. "It's a great achievement."

Peter Rogers, who was chief executive of Westminster Council for 12 years, received a knighthood for his services to local government.

Mr Rogers served on the council from 1996 to 2008 and is currently chief executive of the London Development Agency.