THE leader of Camden Council and the founder of the Proms at St Jude’s are among the recipients in the New Years Honours list this year.

Camden Labour party leader and council leader since May Cllr Nasim Ali was awarded an OBE for services to local government.

He said: “I am really honoured to be on the list and I want to thank all the people that I have worked with over the years because I owe it to the community of Camden.

“Working with the community is what got me into politics as well as my passion for wanting to make a difference to people in the community and to be recognised by her Majesty is amazing.

“I do not do this to get anything in return but it is really nice to be recognised and I am really pleased.”

Susan Gregson, who founded the popular Proms at St Jude’s in Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1993 and has run it ever since, was awarded an MBE for services to the community in Barnet.

She said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have won, really delighted. I did not expect that my work in the community would lead to this.

“The Proms is a wonderful event and totally run by volunteers and it is by everyone, young and old, working together that it is so fantastic.

“I am totally bowled over to be recognised but it is not just me who makes the proms happen, it could not happen without the community.”

Other winners include actor David Suchet, who was awarded a CBE. The actor, who lives in Paddington, is best known for playing Agatha Christie’s much-loved hero Hercule Poirot.

Dr Rabbi Anthony Bayfield, from Golders Green, was awarded a CBE for services to British Reform Judaism and Sandra Horley, the chief executives of charity Refuge from Muswell Hill, was awarded a CBE for services to the prevention of domestic violence.

For the full list of winners in our area see next week’s Ham&High.