Wife praises spouse's MBE

8:00am Wednesday 7th January 2009

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A FORMER Ministry of Defence worker and charity fundraiser from a village near Warminster has been appointed an MBE for public and voluntary service in the New Year Honours List.

Alan Kells from Codford is one of more than 40 civilians who have been honoured by the Queen either for work in the Ministry of Defence or in other aspects of UK Defence.

Mr Kells’ wife, Martina, said: “I’m so proud and absolutely delighted for him because he works extremely hard.“ Mr Kells worked for the MoD for much of his career before retiring and working as a civil servant at the Army headquarters in Wilton.

He has raised thousands of pounds for Asthma UK, embarking on a climbing challenge to Mount Everest three years ago and another one this summer to Mont Blanc in the Alps.

Each time he has raised £1,000 in sponsorship for the respiratory unit at Salisbury District Hospital and has collected £9,000 for charity in total.

Mrs Kells said: “He was absolutely thrilled. He is still in shock and is so honoured.

“He has taken part in a lot of things in the village, like the village pageant.”

Romy Wyeth, chairman of Codford Parish Council, said: “This is a man that when he raises money he actually puts himself out there and he does things which stretch him physically.

“It’s not like raising money doing simple things at home. It’s incredibly noteworthy and quite an inspiring thing to do.

“The honour is very well deserved and having gone out there when it was below 6 degrees this morning I wouldn’t take on a mountain I can tell you.”