It's an honour as these inspirational Hartlepool leaders receive gongs in New Year list

Sacha Bedding, head of The Wharton Trust and Kevin Byrne of Seymour Civil Engineering have both been awarded MBEs in the New Year Honours List.

And Jo Heaton, CEO of the Northern Lights Learning Trust and executive headteacher at Hart Primary School and St Peter’s Elwick, has been given an OBE for services to education.

Dad of three Sacha, 48, thought it was a joke when he received an email informing him of his honour.

He said: “I genuinely thought it was a spoof. I rang up to see if it was real.”

Sacha has received the MBE for services to the community with The Wharton Trust, also known as The Annexe, for nine years.

The charity works to help the Dyke House area – one of the most deprived wards in the UK – to create the right conditions to help itself.

"We help people to do things they enjoy or to challenge things they don’t like about where they live,” said Sacha.

That encompasses assisting with the setting up of community businesses, employment help, benefits advice and free internet access.

During the pandemic the trust worked with organisations including Minds For Men and Bloom In Art while also creating care packages to help kids off school keep busy.

Sacha and the trust also work with several national bodies.

He added of his MBE: “On a personal level I’m delighted and shocked. A whole lot of people have made me the best version of me.

"This is as much for them as me.”

Sacha lives in Elwick with wife Nina and their children Joshua, 17, Millie, 15 and Zac, 11.

Jo Heaton said she was ‘humbled and grateful’ to receive her OBE.

Under her leadership, she took St Peter’s primary from Requiring Improvement in 2013 when she joined to Good with Outstanding for leadership and management in April 2015.

And Hart Primary went from Requiring Improvement in 2014 to Outstanding in 2016.

Last year she became CEO of the multi-academy Northern Lights Learning Trust and has helped many North East schools as a National Leader of Education.

Jo, 43, said: “I feel very lucky and privileged to have been given the opportunity to make a difference to education for our fantastic young people in the region and beyond, and am proud to accept this OBE as part of Northern Lights Learning Trust and as part of the education profession in our country.”

Former Seymour managing director Kevin Byrne, 62, receives his MBE for services to Business and to Skills.

His commitment to home-grown talent saw its workforce grow from 20 to 240 in his 32 years at the helm.

He has been an ambassador for STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) in local schools, colleges and universities to encourage young people into the industry.

Mr Byrne, of Sedgefield, also introduced apprenticeship schemes and encouraged more female students to consider a career in construction.

He said: “Forty years ago when I started the people I worked with were very generous in passing their knowledge on and I have always taken that with me.

"I’m very pleased and proud to get the MBE. It’s a nice reward at the latter part of my career.”

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