MAFF civil servant knighted by Blair

3 January 2000



MAFF civil servant knighted by Blair

by FWi staff

SENIOR civil servant Richard Packer, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, has been knighted in the millennium New Year Honours list.

The award will be seen as a farewell present for Sir Richard who is to leave his job next month after seven years service under six agriculture ministers.

His resignation from the post took the industry by surprise when it was announced by the Ministry of Agriculture just before Christmas.

Tony Blairs first New Year honours list of the 21st century is intended to recognise the achievements of influential figures of the Millennium.

Other high-ranking awards announced in the honours list included three farming-related OBEs one each for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

David William Hugh Richards, president of the Welsh council of the National Farmers Union, was awarded an OBE for his services to agriculture.

An OBE for services to agriculture was also awarded to John Andrew Rankin, a prominent farmer from Newtonards, in County Down.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, James Seton of Inverness received an OBE for his long-standing service to the Scottish Agricultural College.

A total of 19 farming-related MBEs were awarded to the following recipients:-

-Ian Carter Allin, chief technical engineer of the Agricultural Engineers Association, for services to the agricultural machinery industry. (Peterborough, Cambridgeshire).

-Michael John Anderson, for services to agriculture and the Norfolk Agriculture Station. (Norwich, Norfolk).

-Miss Annie Marjory Boreland, for services to the Agriculture Research Institute. (Hillsborough, Down)

-Wallace Barrie Page, for services to Scottish Agricultural Wages Board. (Uckfield, East Sussex)

-Raymond Frederick Parsons, Farm manager, Easton College, Norwich. for services to Agriculture and to Agricultural Education in Norfolk. (Norwich, Norfolk)

-Ms Marion Joyce Twitchett, Executive Officer, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. (Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk)

-Nicholas John Utting, for services to Agriculture and to the community in Cumbria. (Penrith, Cumbria)

-Mrs Jessie Lovie Watt, Lately Crofters commissioner. for services to Crofting and to Agriculture in Shetland and Orkney. (Insch, Aberdeenshire)

-Miss Jean Welch, Lately Support Grade Band 1, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. (London, SE5)

-Walter Edwin White, for services to Agriculture in Babworth, Nottinghamshire. (Retford, Nottinghamshire)

-John Richard Cowan, Head, Beef and Sheep Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. (Tunbridge Wells, Kent)

-William Joseph Duncan, Grade 7, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. (Reading, Berkshire)

-John Park Campbell, Chairman, Glenrath Farms Ltd. for services to the Poultry Industry. (West Linton, Peeblesshire)

-Mrs. Sylvia Elizabeth Armstrong, for services to the Household and Farming Museum, Earle Hill, Northumberland. (Alnwick, Northumberland)

-Clifford Stanley Evans, Farmer. for services to the Shropshire Rural Stress Network. (Minsterley, Shropshire)

-Harry Flett, for services to the Corrigall Farm Museum in Orkney. (Dounby, Orkney)

-Raymond Frederick Parsons, Farm manager, Easton College, Norwich. for services to Agriculture and to Agricultural Education in Norfolk. (Norwich, Norfolk)

-Ms Susan Reddington, for services to the Meanwood Valley Urban Farm Project, Leeds. (Leeds, West Yorkshire)

-John Sayer, for services to Hill Farming and to the conservation of the Yorkshire Dales. (Skipton, North Yorkshire)