As we mentioned yesterday, several Islanders have this week made it onto the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Suzanne Whitewood, who may be known to many of you, was awarded an MBE for her contribution to Girl Guiding in the UK.
Born in Ventnor, Suzanne now lives and works in Newport and is heavily involved in the voluntary sector where she holds three posts within Girlguiding IW: Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Advisor, County Secretary and PR and Marketing Advisor.
100 years of Girlguiding on the IW
No, we’re not saying that Suzanne has been Girlguiding for 100 years, she’s a spring chicken in comparison, but you may remember the feature we ran last year about the book that Suzanne wrote for the Girlguiding Centenary.
‘Moments in Time – 100 years of Girlguiding on the IW’ was created to raise funds for GIW and ran alongside the Girlguiding Centenary Exhibition at Newport Guildhall that Suzanne was also responsible for.
And the list goes on ….
Suzanne’s list of accolade goes on, she was the first Queen’s Guide in Ventnor and the first female Gold Award Holder for Duke of Edinburgh on the Island.
She remains involved with the Duke of Edinburgh Awards as the leader of the Duke of Edinburgh Group at Carisbrooke High School, where she also runs the after-school cooking club through the Let’s Get Cooking scheme.
Perhaps you’ve seen Suzanne at one of the many talks and demonstrations she gives on food history and Roman recipes at the Roman villas or in schools or spoke to her during her work as a free-lance writer for The Beacon.
There are masses of other things that Suzanne has been involved with over the years, on receiving the nomination, Suzanne said, “I would like to pay tribute to my husband Alan who has supported my charity work. I would not be able to fit everything in without his help.”
Well done Suzanne, you are a credit to the Island.
