MBE for county editor John

John Butterworth MBEPop princess Kylie Minogue and king of the TV chat show Michael Parkinson today joined Shropshire’s own ambassadors in the Queen’s New Year Honours List.

Kylie’s battle against breast cancer and return to the stage inspired millions and has seen her made an OBE, while Parkinson, whose last chat show was screened this month, has been knighted.

A host of Shropshire men and women joined the stars in the New Year Honours List, with John Butterworth, editor of the Shropshire Star’s sister titles the Shrewsbury Chronicle and the North Shropshire Chronicle, made an MBE for services to journalism and to charity.

Mr Butterworth, of Stone, Staffordshire, has worked in the newspaper industry for 35 years, including 23 years as an editor and raised more than £4 million for charity.

He said: “This is definitely the biggest achievement of my career. Through the various newspapers, we’ve raised more than £4 million for charity.”

The 54-year-old said: “I am absolutely thrilled and humbled by the honour.”

As Shrewsbury Chronicle editor for the last 11 years, the father-of-two has launched appeals to build a head and neck cancer centre, a diabetes unit and specialist equipment for the stroke unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Send your congratulatory messages using the comment form below

This article was posted on December 29, 2007 at 9:41 am.
Alan Ward (2)
William A. Lewis
Earlyworld
Turn leads into sales (A)

7 Comments

  1. David Lloyd said: Dec 29th, 2007 at 10:39 am

    Great to see a long serving and respected provincial journalist honoured.

  2. Conrad Sutcliffe said: Dec 29th, 2007 at 1:23 pm

    Nice to see someone in our industry get an honour so richly deserved

  3. David said: Dec 29th, 2007 at 4:13 pm

    Surely its well past time these farcical ‘awards’ to the rich and famous were scrapped. And before someone screams, I’m fully aware that there are a ‘token’ few awards made also to Joe Public, but the majority go to those in the public eye who are no more deserving than many hundreds of thousands of our citizens who work just as hard, if not harder, than the Pop and Soap stars.

  4. tony russell from devon said: Dec 29th, 2007 at 7:10 pm

    congratulations to all those honoured in shropshire from tony russell cpt 1954
    er cpt i hear you cry? cycling proficiency test 1954 at ludlow!!

  5. Huw Peach said: Dec 30th, 2007 at 9:31 pm

    Well done.

  6. John Hollyhead said: Jan 3rd, 2008 at 11:12 am

    I was delighted to hear your news.
    Many congratulations on your much deserved MBE. I hope you and yours have a very happy New Year.
    Well Done John

  7. Sarah Morris said: Feb 4th, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    Congratulations Mr Butterworth. Fantastic news and very well deserved!