MBE awards for Jill and Tracey

Jill Loader, manager of Bexhill and Rother Citizens' Advice Bureau is honoured for her service to the bureau and to the British Red Cross.

Tracey Whitewood-Neal, a higher executive officer with the Child Support Agency, is honoured for her work for the agency.

At her home, Jill Loader said: "I feel humbled really.

"It is a great privilege and I am excited about it. But I'm also humbled because I have led many groups and still work with others and I think they have earned this just as much.

"I feel excited that someone has kindly put my name forward."

Jill and her husband, Clive, moved to Bexhill from Hastings in 1972. Jill worked as assistant librarian at Bexhill High School for nearly 14 years.

While there, she realised that everyone involved ought to be trained in first aid.

She joined the British Red Cross locally in 1979 as a first aider.

Through that she became involved in the Activenture project - activity holidays for special needs children in Ashdown Forest, becoming a group leader.

An organiser asked why there were no youngsters coming forward from Bexhill, following this up with the challenging "What are you doing about it, dear?"

Jill says: "I started a British Red Cross youth group in Bexhill for 11 to 16 year-olds and ran it for 16 years."

Thanks to the support of fellow volunteers, the group grew in number and sent local youngsters to Activenture holidays every year.

"I went as leader every year and greatly enjoyed it."

Eventually, she had to ask herself: "Can I still climb trees...?" and decided it was time to quit.

"In the meantime, I had taken on the CAB in 1987 - it has taken me over a bit since!"

Jill joined as deputy manager to Clifford Crouch, succeeding him after two years.

"I didn't realise what I was taking on at the time..."

Then, the bureau had 12 volunteers. Now, recently reorganised as Rother District CAB, it has four part-time staff and 28 volunteers.

Asked about her work, Jill says: "Officially, it is 22 hours a week. But I'm lucky to get one day off a week. Lots of the others do the same.

"I do try to get a day off but if you run a team of volunteers you can't walk away from them when they are giving their time freely."

The Citizens' Advice Bureau deals with many serious problems on behalf of the public. But, says Jill, it is a happy office, full of humour.

Even notification that Jill was being considered for an award became entwined with the CAB. Clive rang the office to say a letter had arrived at home with "Prime Minister" on the envelope.

Like Clive, Jill thought it must be mis-addressed CAB business and asked him to open it in case it was urgent.

Jill says: "I would like to pay tribute to my husband. If I need some maintenance done at the office it's my husband I call on..."

Among the first to congratulate Jill on her MBE were the couple's daughters, Michelle, who travels the world for a company specialising in providing secure communications for the financial services industry, and Joanne who is House of Fraser advertisement editor.

Tracey Whitewood-Neal - who was not available for interview this week - moved the hearts of the nation last summer when Bexhillian Julia Stovell's Channel 4 documentary, The Boy With Proteus Syndrome, was screened.

Julia was inspired to make the documentary after reading in the Bexhill Observer about Jordan's plight and his mother's struggles on his behalf.

The citation for Tracey's New Year Honour refers specifically to her work as a higher executive officer with the Child Support Agency in Hastings, work which is closely linked to the needs of children.

But in addition to her professional life, Tracey also copes with being a wife and mother plus Jordan's exceptional needs.

On top of this, for the past eight years Tracey has been chairman of the national Proteus Syndrome Foundation, campaigning not only on behalf of 10 year-old Jordan but for others like him who have the painful and crippling condition.

Tracey was shown not only taking Jordan to the football which he loves but to innumerable appointments with doctors and specialists - notably with Dr Leslie Biesecker at the National Institute for Health in the USA.

Among those who have come to know the family best is Harold Lawrence, founder of the 1066 Specials Football Club which offers training to youngsters with special needs. Jordan is an enthusiastic member.

Harold said: "I am absolutely delighted for Tracey. I think it is a wonderful thing.

"I don't know much about her professional life, but this honour underlines how well she has managed to combine those duties with the responsibilities of her home life.

"What has always impressed me is that Tracey is always so calm, so serene, in the way she deals with her problems.

"Considering all that she copes with, she has a great sense of humour.

"Her attitude to Jordan, and that of her husband Dean, is to treat Jordan as an ordinary kid. This means that Jordan communicates with other kids on an equal basis.

"Her's is a remarkable achievement and I congratulate her."

In an Observer interview in 2004 Tracey summed-up her approach to coping with her exacting lifestyle: "You just have to get on with it, don't you?"