Hearts former chair Ann Budge awarded OBE
She is being recognised in The King's New Year Honours List for services to sport and the Midlothian community
Former Heart of Midlothian chair Anne Budge is being awarded an OBE in The King’s New Year Honours List.
The 77-year-old, who stepped down from her role earlier this month after 11 years, is being honoured for services to sport and to the community in Midlothian.
Budge helped save Hearts from administration in 2014, before playing a vital role in transforming the club’s infrastructure, including building a new main stand, hotel and museum. The Edinburgh businesswoman also helped oversee Tony Bloom’s almost £10 million investment into the club this summer.
She said: “This is an incredibly proud moment, not just for myself but for my family too, because their support across the years allowed me to focus on doing the very best job that I could for Heart of Midlothian Football Club.
“Although sport has been such a big part of my life over the past decade, so too has community. Transforming Hearts’ relationship with the local community, and driving it forward, has been a passion of mine. To therefore be recognised for services to both sport and community is a very rewarding feeling.
“I must also thank the staff at Hearts. Without their involvement, we would not have been able to achieve what we set out to do, returning the club to the top of Scottish football. This honour is as much theirs as it is mine.”
A Hearts spokesperson said: “Everybody at Heart of Midlothian is thrilled that Ann has been honoured, in such a magnificent way, for her work at the club.
“Ann’s story has been told many times, and it will continue to be told for years to come, such is her significance in rescuing the club before restoring its reputation both on and off the pitch.
“It is a fitting tribute that ‘Queen Ann’ be recognised by King Charles III, and we look forward to welcoming back our Honorary President as the proud recipient of an OBE.”
The Cabinet Office has published HM The King's New Year Honours list today, with fifteen people from Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and Falkirk being recognised.
Other notable recipients from Edinburgh include Professor Sue Rigby, Principal and Vice Chancellor of Napier University, who is being awarded a CBE for services to Higher Education.
Professor Simon Milne, Regius Keeper and Chief Executive Officer of Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden, will receive a knighthood for services to Botany, Conservation and Horticulture after being appointed MBE in 1996.
Former Dunfermline Athletic chairman Robert Garmory is being given an OBE for services to the community for his volunteer work with anti-poverty charity Multibank.
Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said: “My warmest congratulations go to all of the Scottish recipients of His Majesty’s New Year Honours. Scots the length and breadth of the country have been recognised for their contribution to politics, business, the arts, science and to their communities.”
He added: “The list is packed with local heroes who strive every day to tackle disadvantage. I congratulate all those who work so hard day in day out to make our communities better places to live and work.”
Full list of recipients from Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and Falkirk:
David Charles Gemmell GARBUTT – City of Edinburgh (CBE – NHS Education for Scotland)
Professor Susan RIGBY – City of Edinburgh (CBE – Edinburgh Napier)
William Geddie WATT – East Lothian (CBE – Scottish National Investment Bank)
Lynn BROWN – East Lothian (CBE – Scottish Police Authority)
Dr Ann Cochrane Cook Wallace BUDGE – City of Edinburgh (OBE – Heart of Midlothian FC)
Mary Celine (Celine) SINCLAIR – City of Edinburgh (OBE – The Yard)
James REVILLE – City of Edinburgh (OBE – community resilience in Scotland)
Professor Danielle GUNN MOORE – City of Edinburgh (OBE – feline veterinary medicine)
Robert Milligan GARMORY – Fife (OBE – Multibank volunteer; Fife)
Anne Elizabeth FAIRGRIEVE – Midlothian (OBE – Libertus Elderly Services)
James John WILSON – Midlothian (BEM – Bonnyrigg Rose Community FC)
Marc Yocksan BELL – Midlothian (MBE – police missing persons coordinator)
Jennifer Mitchell FAIRGRIEVE – Midlothian (MBE – Libertus Elderly Services)
Karen ROSS – Stirling and Falkirk (OBE – Kilmadock Development Trust & Doune/Deanston)
Margaret Anne MCDONALD – Stirling and Falkirk (BEM – Car4U cancer transport