New Year Honours 2024: Millie Bright, Wednesday's Howard Wilkinson and Sheffield's 'Mrs Christmas' honoured

Lioness Millie Bright is among those those with Sheffield connections named in the New Year’s Honours list 2024.

Hard workers, upstanding members of communities, sports stars and celebrities from across the country have been recognised in the annual list - with the Steel City well represented.

They include England captain and Sheffield United alumni Millie Bright, who has been made an OBE for services to football after the Lionesses finished runners-up to Spain in the women's World Cup this year.

It will be one more reason for the Killamarsh-born Lioness to pop the champagne before the year is out, after this week announcing her engagement to boyfriend Levi Crew.

Millie started out in football wearing the navy blue strip with flashes of yellow at the sides worn by her Sunday League team, Killamarsh Dynamos.

She was scouted by Sheffield United, and it was the Blades who first started to develop her as a player. From there, she moved to Doncaster Belles, then Chelsea, before making the step up to the national team.

She was part of Sarina Wiegman’s history-making Euro 2022 squad last summer, and is renowned for her vibrant energy both on and off the pitch. She currently lives in Surrey.

Others included in the annual Honours list include a Gloria Stewart, better known as ‘Mrs Christmas’ to her fans in Sheffield, who for 15 years has run a yuletide lunch party to combat loneliness and will now receive a British Empire Medal (BEM).

She is heart and soul of the ‘Home Alone at Christmas’ event to provide a lunch to people who otherwise might be alone during the festivities in Sheffield, with over 500 people attending nowadays.

Gloria, 74, founded the event after meeting an elderly lady in a hospital waiting room who told her she spent December 25 eating biscuits with a cup of coffee on her own every year.

Gloria also sadly lost her daughter, Jeinelle, in early December 2020, and had previously lost her mum, Lil, on Christmas Day. She previously told The Star: "It was really really hard the year Jeinelle passed. But I know she would have wanted me to carry on with it, so we took hampers out to people's houses.

“With a family, you pull together and get through it, but a lot of people out there haven't got anybody. You have to give them something to look forward to."

Her other Christmas feats have included handing out gloves and flasks to homeless people, visiting nursing homes with gifts and, one year, donating £4,000 of her own money towards keeping the annual lunch afloat.

Another name on the Honours list this year is Legendary Wednesday skipper Howard Wilkinson, chairman of the League Managers Association and a prolific Sheffield-born football manager, who has been awarded an OBE for services to Association Football.

Amid a wide spanning career, including as caretaker manager of England, Howard - who born in Netherthorpe - took the reins of the Owls from 1983-88, and played for both Wednesday and SUFC in his younger years.

Although his greatest club achievements were when he was in charge of Leeds United, his stewardship led SWFC to a promotion from the second division, which they held for the next four years.

He was also Techincal Director of the FA, caretaker manager of England, and would go on to return to Wednesday as its interim chairman in 2010.

Chief Executive and principal of The Sheffield College, Angela Foulkes, has been honoured with a CBE for services to Further Education.

Other names on King Charles III’s second New Year’s Honours List include a BEM for Andrew Colin Beevers for services to bell ringing and the community in Ecclesfield and Zahid Hamid for services to National Parks for his work on the Peak District National Park Authority.

New Year's Honours List 2024 for South Yorkshire

Below is the full list of honours for people in South Yorkshire:

Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Angela Foulkes, Chief Executive and Principal, The Sheffield College. For services to Further Education.

Professor Timothy James Greaves Kendall, Lately National Clinical Director for Mental Health, NHS England. For services to Mental Health Care in England 

Joanne Lucille Roney OBE, Chief Executive, Manchester City Council. For services to Local Government 

Officers of the Order of the British Empire 

Catherine Louise Edwards, Clinical Programmes Director, National Specialised Commissioning, NHS England. For services to the NHS

Janet Elizabeth Kay Lately, Kinship Carer, Kinship. For services to Children and Families

Beryce Amy Nixon, Chief Executive Officer, Exceed Learning Partnership Trust. For services to Education

Professor Julian Daryl Richards, Professor of Archaeology, University of York. For services to Heritage and Digital Archiving 

Helen Ruth Waite, Deputy Director, Family Support, Department for Education. For services to Education

Howard Wilkinson, Chairman, League Managers Association. For services to Association Football and to Charity

Members of the Order of the British Empire

Zahid Hamid, Lately Member, Peak District National Park Authority. For services to National Parks

Joslyn Hoyte-Smith, Chair, GB Olympians Association. For services to Athletics

Douglas Michael Jackson, For services to the community in Sheffield, South Yorkshire

David Levy, Senior Community Outreach Adviser, Ukraine Humanitarian Taskforce, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. For services to Refugee Resettlement

Medalists of the Order of the British Empire 

Andrew Colin Beevers, For services to Bell Ringing and to the community in Ecclesfield, South Yorkshire 

Jon-Paul Kitson Cornforth, For services to the community in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, particularly during Covid-19 

John Andrew Daley, For services to Young People and to the community in Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Ian Robert Hague, For services to the community in Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Margaret Sandra Smyers, For services to the community in Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Samuel Jozef Oldroyd, Chief Executive Officer, JADE Youth and Community. For services to Young People and Families in Rother Valley, (South Yorkshire)

Diane Oxley, For services to Young People and to the community in Thurcroft, South Yorkshire 

Cheryl Anne Sanderson, For services to Cancer Patients in Barnsley, South Yorkshire

Gloria Ann Stewart, For services to the community in Sheffield, South Yorkshire 

Richard William Townsend, Lately Community Coach, Milton Keynes Athletics Club. For services to Sport and to the communities in Milton Keynes and South Yorkshire