Tracey Palmer, a Salvation Army officer, was one of the men and women who leapt into action when floods struck in June. These local heroes have been recognised among 650 volunteers and charity workers appointed MBE.

Captain Palmer, of Worksop, Nottinghamshire, who joined as a volunteer in 1984, took care of 40 people who had to leave their homes as flood waters rose. “We provided a safe place for children and we handed out hot drinks,” she said. “We were saved by the grace of God.” She said that the floods had done lasting damage. Of the 30 houses in the street outside the hall, only a third had been reoccupied.

Phil Ryan, a retained station manager at Tewkesbury Community Fire Station in Gloucestershire, was one of 13 people appointed MBE for services to flood rescue after he worked to save stranded residents and workers. Mr Ryan spent the first four days of the floods working 24-hour shifts with four-hour breaks.

Also appointed MBE was Harold Roberts, the senior hov-ercraft commander at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s station at Morecambe Bay, who was commander on the night when 23 Chinese cockle pickers drowned when they became trapped by rising tides in February 2004.

Therese Hughes, a hairdresser for cancer sufferers at the Macmillan support and information centre at Belfast City Hospital, was appointed MBE.

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