New Year honours for rowers and former MP

SIX people from Henley have been recognised in the New Year’s Honours list.

Businessman and former politician Tim Eggar and Paralympic rowing champion Erin Kennedy, of Leander Club, were both awarded an OBE.

Three other Leander athletes, who won gold in the women’s quad sculls, and an Upper Thames Rowing Club athlete, who triumphed in the lightweight double sculls at the Paris Olympics last summer, were made MBEs.

Mr Eggar, 73, who lives in Nettlebed, is the former chairman of the North Sea Transition Authority and has been recognised for almost 50 years working in the energy industry.

He said: “Just because you do a job like this, doesn’t mean you automatically get an honour but it was a really nice surprise.”

Mr Eggar stood down from the authority, which is owned by the Government, in September last year.

He said: “The recognition is not really just for what I did but for what the authority did over a very difficult period. In the period I was chairman we had five prime ministers, eight secretaries of state and seven ministers of state. That was all in the period of less than six years.

“If you’re trying to run a public body which is trying to help the country in terms of creating prosperity, to have constant changes in ministers and the Prime Minister is challenging to say the least.”

Mr Eggar moved to Shiplake when he was 12 years old when his father, John, became the headmaster at Shiplake College. Later he became chair of governors at the college for 11 years, leaving the role about two years ago.

He studied economics and law and is a qualified barrister. He has also been a Conservative MP, representing Enfield North from 1979 to 1997 and has held various Government roles, including Minister for Energy at the Department of Trade and Industry.

Mr Eggar, who has been married to Charmian Minoprio since 1977, said his greatest achievement during his lifetime has been “having a happy family and long marriage” and his advice to others is: “aim high, never look back and never have regrets.”

Rowing cox Kennedy, 32, of Station Road in Henley, was honoured for her services to the sport as well as her work in raising breast cancer awareness.

She was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer aged 29 after finding a lump in her breast while training in Italy in 2022.

After months of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and intensive rehabilitation, she returned to rowing and was given the all-clear in March 2023.

Kennedy steered the Great Britain PR3 mixed coxed four to victory at the Paralympic Games in Paris to maintain her 14-year unbeaten record.

The three-time World Champion, three-time European Champion and world best time holder, who competes for Leander club, said she was “shocked” when she received the letter.

She said: “I had been away on a charity trek in India when I had a letter from the cabinet office. It was really unexpected and a real privilege because it’s rowing and services to breast cancer awareness, which made me particularly proud because the impact of the charity work has been recognised.

“I don’t take it lightly at all and I appreciate the honour that it is. It goes beyond me and sport and the things I have done in that small world, to something that’s much bigger. They call it honours for a reason. I feel very honoured to be included in the list because I know I have been included alongside some amazing people.

“It’s not been the three years I would have wanted but being able to use my voice and platform to raise awareness has been one of the privileges of the last couple of years and to keep rowing and maintain the gold medal while doing so has been the cherry on top.”

Kennedy, who is married to Sam, an army major, continues to face difficulties following her intensive treatments but remains positive about returning to rowing and starting a family.

She said: “I want to continue competing but I’m in a place where we will have to do IVF because of chemotherapy impacting my fertility. It’s a challenge for people who go through cancer because they end up being infertile and it’s something that’s not really talked about, but it’s the next big battle that me and my husband are having to face. It shows that the cancer journey never ends.”

Leander’s Hannah Scott, Georgina Brayshaw and club captain Lola Anderson, alongside Leicester Rowing Club’s Lauren Henry, claimed gold after a photo finish.

They completed the 2,000m course in six minutes and 16.31 seconds, with the Netherlands just 0.15 seconds behind them and was Team GB’s first gold at the Games.

Anderson, 26, who lives in New Street, described the award as a “huge honour.” She said: “It’s pretty hard to describe how it feels. I feel this year has just been one amazing surprise or experience after another. It feels pretty incredible.

“There’s always going to be lots of ups and downs when you are trying to get something that’s quite out of reach to begin with. But I can look back on every step I’ve taken and just be really grateful for every part of the journey, the good and the bad.”

Georgina Brayshaw, 31, from Wallingford, said that she feels “really privileged” to receive her honour. She said: “Winning gold at the Olympics for me was incredible and for my friends and family, but receiving an MBE makes me feel like the nation recognises it. It’s just really special and what a way to end such an amazing year. It has just been an absolute whirlwind of amazingness.”

Brayshaw was involved in a horse-riding accident aged 15 which left her in a coma for nine days and paralysed the left side of her body. Doctors initially thought she would never walk again and might not be able to feed herself.

She said: “I’m just really proud. To defy all of those odds and go back to normal life and go on and be an Olympic champion is just unbelievable. I think people are still a bit gobsmacked that I managed to achieve it but I’m the sort of person that will never take no for an answer. If someone tells me I can’t do something, I will make sure I prove them wrong.”

Scott, 25, who is originally from Coleraine in Northern Ireland, said: “It was a really nice surprise, opening up the letter I didn’t expect to get one, so it is a real honour for me.

“It is also nice for the other people around me to be recognised in terms of me getting this award, for the support they gave me, from my coach and my family growing up. This has been my dream just to be able to do this as a job and now to be recognised for doing what you love is more than what anyone can ask for.

“I definitely would tell everyone to pursue what you love, because you never know what can come off the other side of it. I did not think that this would ever accumulate to the King’s honour, but here we are today.”

Scott, who used to live in Wargrave and now lives in Taplow, competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, coming seventh. She said: “It has been a journey and to finally complete it in Paris in that set-up was just a dream come true because everything had to align to that day.

“I feel very grateful to have had both sides of the coin, to appreciate the success now and not get too high with it and not get too low with it. But just have that balance and be able to appreciate the people around me and the people who have got me there and held me through the tough times.”

Grant, 28, who lives in Henley and rows at Upper Thames Rowing Club in Henley, won gold with Emily Craig in the pair.

She said: “It has been a massive honour to be recognised in this way. When I got the call, I was at my parents’ house, having just done three different school visits in Cambridge, where I grew up, on the same day. They were in the room watching and my face lit up.

“I had to share it with them but swear them to secrecy so they wouldn’t tell anyone until the news was released.”

Grant completed her medical degree last year and is now working as a foundation-year doctor at St Mark’s Hospital in Maidenhead.

She added: “I’ve moved my training to Upper Thames Rowing Club which means I can get up early before work and fit a session in before I head off to the hospital.”