PEOPLE from across the Bradford district have spoken about being “overwhelmed” and “humbled” after being named in the King’s New Year Honours list.  Among those on the list, which was announced today, are two Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture directors, two employees at Hanson Academy in Bradford, the director of the National Science and Media Museum and John Robins, the Chief Constable for West Yorkshire Police, who was awarded a knighthood.

With Bradford about to conclude its City of Culture year, two directors who have spearheaded the initiative have been awarded MBEs for their services to culture.  Dan Bates, Executive Director of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, said: “I am thrilled and humbled to have been nominated for this honour.  Working on Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture has been a huge privilege and a career highlight.  We’ve had an incredible year, and that’s down to our brilliant team who have delivered so much for the city and district.  The people of Bradford have welcomed this designation with open arms, and I am excited to see what’s next for culture in the region.”

Shanaz Gulzar, Creative Director of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, said: “This honour isn’t just for me it also marks the work of all my remarkable colleagues.  I am so proud of the work that the Bradford 2025 team have delivered in the lead up to and throughout this extraordinary year of art and culture.  The people of our city and district have completely owned this year, which has been a privilege and a delight to witness.  I am grateful and humbled by this recognition.”

Jo Quinton-Tulloch, who took over as Director of the National Science and Media Museum in 2012, was awarded an OBE for her service to the arts.  The museum director said: “Receiving this OBE is an extraordinary honour and I feel very humbled. It is also a reflection of the amazing people I’ve had the privilege to work with, and I wouldn’t be here without all my exceptional colleagues.”

Bradford man Balbir Singh, Artistic Director of Balbir Singh Dance Company, was awarded a MBE for his services to dance.  He said: “To be named in the King’s Honours List is both humbling and deeply meaningful.  It’s a moment of reflection as much as recognition. Growing up and living in Bradford has shaped who I am.  The city’s people, its spirit and resilience have been inspiring to me.  To receive this honour while remaining rooted here makes it very special, because it feels like a recognition of the community too.”

Also receiving a MBE is Keighley native Ellie Kildunne for her services to rugby union football.  The England full back was crucial to the Red Roses’ autumn triumph, scoring a fabulous solo try as England beat Canada to win the World Cup final at Twickenham.

Two staff members at Hanson Academy, on Swain House Road, were each awarded a BEM.  Cindy Sutcliffe, of Bradford, and Kelly Clarke, of Halifax, who both work at Hanson as inclusion managers, were recognised for their services to education.  Cindy said: “I’m speechless. You don’t think you’re going to receive something so significant for doing your job to help children and families. I’m still in shock.  I’m just a girl from a council estate in Allerton. I’ve not had the easiest of times. I’ve had to fight for everything.  The school has had such a significant turnaround with the leadership of the Delta Trust and Principal Sam Sheedy. To be credited in any part of that is amazing.  Kelly and I have worked as hard as everyone else. The staff have all been so supportive.  The school is just so different now. You walk in and it’s such a calm school.”

Kelly said: “I’m very overwhelmed. It’s an absolute honour and was so unexpected. Not in my wildest did I think I’d be given an award.  It means so much because I went to Hanson as a child and I’ve been working at the school ever since I finished at Liverpool John Moores University 13 years ago.  The school which has always inspired me has had such a remarkable transformation.  It’s been all heart, long hours and many tears, but it’s been so nice to give back to the local community.  Working with Delta (Trust) and Sam (Sheedy) has been a privilege. I can’t wait to celebrate with my colleagues.  It brings me so much emotion. It’s starting to hit home now.”

The King’s New Years Honours list includes:

Knights Bachelor

John Patrick Robins QPM DL. Chief Constable, West Yorkshire Police. For services to Policing. (Yorkshire)

OBE

Joanne Elizabeth Quinton-Tulloch. Director, National Science and Media Museum. For services to the Arts. (Keighley)

MBE

Lorna Lee Armitage. Co-Founder, Capslock. For services to Cyber Security. (Bingley)

Daniel Bates. Executive Director, Bradford Culture Company. For services to Culture in Bradford. (Sheffield)

Professor Divine Charura. Professor of Counselling Psychology, York St John University. For services to Inclusion and to the Advancement of Counselling and Psychotherapy in Research and Practice. (Birstall)

Ellie Kildunne, from Keighley. For services to Rugby Union Football.

Shanaz Begum Gulzar. Creative Director, Bradford Culture Company. For services to Culture in Bradford. (Keighley)

David John Gurney. Chief Executive Officer, Cockburn Multi-Academy Trust, Leeds. For services to Education. (Bradford)

Henri Murison. Chief Executive, The Northern Powerhouse Partnership. For services to the Economy. (Ilkley)

Balbir Singh. Artistic Director, Balbir Singh Dance Company. For services to Dance. (Bradford)

Margaret Anne Wood. Lately Director of Nursing and Quality, Practice Plus Group. For services to Patients in Health and Justice Systems. (Keighley)

BEM

Roger Paul Butterfield. For services to the community in Bradford, West Yorkshire. (Bradford)

Susan Lynne Raymond. Interview Manager, Office for National Statistics. For services to Statistics. (Ilkley)

Cindy Marie Sutcliffe. Inclusion Manager, Hanson Academy, Bradford, West Yorkshire. For services to Education. (Bradford)

Kelly Clarke. Inclusion Manager, Hanson Academy, Bradford. For services to Education. (Halifax)

Lloyd Anthony Thompson. Founder and Director, Tranquil Productions and Tech Styles International. For services to Young People and to the community in Bradford through Hip Hop and Dance. (Bradford)

School uniform vouchers available for customers of Bradford housing provider Incommunities

• Customers who rent from Incommunities can get help with the cost of school uniforms over the next 12 months.
• Vouchers can be spent at major supermarkets and shops across the Bradford district.
• No qualifying criteria – the help is for all customer who rent from Incommunities. All they need to do is refer themselves to Incommunities’ Money Matters team and discuss income and expenditure.

Bradford Breakthrough welcome our guest speaker, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Building Society – Susan Allen, to our Annual Dinner

CEO, Trevor Higgins, recently joined a tour round Darley Street Market. The interior fit-out work is well underway and nearing completion in time for a Spring opening. It is very impressive with 3 floors offering everything from traditional market fare to food from all corners of the globe. It has an external space to host varied events and a huge screen.

Darley Street Market                                                          

CEO Trevor Higgins and many Breakthrough colleagues attending RISE which proved a fantastic launch event for Bradford City of Culture 2025.

A mind-blowing opening to what promises to be a wonderful year!

THE University of Bradford’s School of Management has been recognised for its work with small businesses and the opportunities it creates for students.  Small Business Charter status has been given to the School of Management for the next five years.

The School of Management’s contributions were recognised in three categories: Support for Growth of Small Businesses, Stakeholder Engagement to Support Growth, and Encouraging Student Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.  Bradford University has supported budding entrepreneurs with the £2.5 million Bradford-Renduchintala Enterprise Ecosystem (BREE), launched in January.

Professor Sankar Sivarajah, dean of the School of Management, said: “We are delighted to be re-accredited with the Small Business Charter award.  Thank you to all our colleagues, students, alumni, and business community who have played their part in helping the School to secure this re-accreditation.”

Tim Rogers, chief executive officer of Bradford district-based firm Future Transformation, said: “With access to students, research, and innovation, the University of Bradford School of Management proves a vital resource for SMEs like mine and the wider business community locally, regionally, and nationally to grow sustainably and increase our skills, resulting in a strong and stable economy.”

The School of Management hopes to help develop businesses further when it launches its new MSc in Entrepreneurship Practice, in September 2025.

Kevin O’Hare, Principal

Keighley College is a further education institution, offering a range of academic and technical qualifications at multiple levels for post-16 and adult learners.

The college has a rich local history, tracing its origins to Keighley Mechanics’ Institute, founded in 1825. It has been a member of Luminate Education Group since 2007.

Keighley College provides caring, authentic, and respectful learning experience, which seeks to prepare learners for a range of future opportunities.  The close-knit college community holds its values at the heart of all it does.

The campus boasts an Industrial Centre of Excellence, equipped with  industry-standard equipment, designed to encourage more learners to take up careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Keighley College, Bradford Road, Keighley BD21 4HQ

Tel:  01535 685000

Website: keighleycollege.ac.uk

A Bradford company handed over a cheque for more than a £1,000 to a charity after its fundraising efforts in aid of the organisation last year.  Staff at Thorite baked cakes, dressed up daft, and fired up the barbecue in a year of fundraising for Huddersfield-based Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.

The compressed air and fluid power specialists picked the group as their 2023 charity and handed over £1,216, which came from money-raising efforts across all Thorite’s sales and service centres, including those in Bradford, Leeds, and Sheffield.  Forget Me Not provides expert clinical care, respite, therapy, days out, memory-making, end-of-life care, and bereavement support to children with life-shortening conditions, and their families, across West Yorkshire.  It relies heavily on charitable donations to support its work.

Presenting the cheque to Masood Ahmed, of Forget Me Not, at Thorite’s Bradford headquarters, Managing Director, Stephen Wright, said: “We were delighted to do our bit to support the charity’s important work with children and families who are facing the toughest of life’s challenges.”

Masood Ahmed said: “It’s great when colleagues come together to raise funds to help us continue and build on our work and we’d like to say a big thank you to everyone at Thorite for their fund-raising efforts.”

Thorite has chosen the Alzheimer’s Society to benefit from its fund-raising efforts this year after a company-wide vote.

A UNIVERSITY of Bradford department has been ranked among the top 25 in Europe for the number of start-up companies created by graduates.  The university’s School of Management, celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, has been ranked in 25th place for its Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) course in the 2023 PitchBook Universities list of the top undergraduate, graduate and MBA rankings at institutions across Europe.  Bradford was ranked among business schools from universities in Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden in the MBA category.

PitchBook’s annual university rankings compare business schools by totalling up the number of alumni entrepreneurs who have raised venture capital in the last 10 years.  The University of Bradford posted 22 founder and business counts in PitchBook’s MBA list   The 2023 listings are based on the number of founders who received a first round of venture funding between 1 January 2013 and 1 September 2023.

Professor Sankar Sivarajah, Dean of the School of Management at the University of Bradford, said: “We are delighted that we are among Europe’s top universities in the 2023 PitchBook University rankings.  The School of Management is proud to be a launchpad for so many successful fledgling businesses created by our students.  Completing an MBA can provide individuals with the opportunity not only to sharpen their business acumen and skills but also to increase their credibility when seeking investment for business ideas.”

The University of Bradford is helping support the entrepreneurs of tomorrow through the £2.5 million Bradford-Renduchintala Enterprise Ecosystem (BREE).  The Dragons’ Den-style initiative is open to staff, students and members of the public.

The university is aiming to become the UK’s number one destination for entrepreneurs. It will build on the university’s long history of research and innovation. BREE was launched in January 2024 through a £1.25m donation from alumnus Dr Murthy Renduchintala, and a further £1.25m from the university.

The MBA PitchBook ranking is the latest recognition for the University of Bradford’s School of Management. It is ranked in the top two per cent in the world last year after it received a joint re-accreditation from the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and the Business Graduates Association (BGA), who are two of the world’s leading authorities on business education.

It is three years since the School of Management became the first business school in England to receive its initial joint accreditation from AMBA and BGA.  A total of 300 of the world’s 16,000 business schools, including Bradford, are AMBA accredited, equivalent to two per cent.

THREE Bradford employers have been named in The Sunday Times Best Places To Work 2024.  Arts organisation Bradford 2025, manufacturer Mansfield Pollard, and legal firm Schofield Sweeney all make the nationwide list this year.  Over 70,000 companies and brands were surveyed to form the newspaper’s list.  The list looked at businesses’ ability to engage and support people of all ages.  It considered the following criteria: reward and recognition, instilling pride, information sharing, empowerment, wellbeing and job satisfaction.

Bradford 2024                                                                                                                                       Bradford 2025 was set up two years ago following the UK City of Culture winning bid. The list says the organisation has “quickly created a company culture for 56 employees”.  It added: “Set up in 2022 when Bradford won a bid to become UK City of Culture, the mid-sized arts organisation has quickly created a company culture for 56 employees.  There is an induction programme for new staff members, fortnightly all-company sessions and events to celebrate Pride, black history and mental awareness.  Perks include an employee assistance helpline, high street discounts and flexible work patterns.”

Mansfield Pollard                                                                                                                                      Dudley Hill-based Mansfield Pollard was praised for giving all its employees a £2,500 pay rise to help with the cost of living.  The list said: “A ventilation specialist that has breathed fresh air into the business with an overhaul of the culture and new facilities after a management buyout in 2020, the same year it moved to a 64,000-square feet state-of-the-art headquarters in Bradford.  New initiatives introduced by chief executive Louise Frankland include an employee forum.  Last year, all 146 employees received a £2,500 pay rise to help with the cost of living.  Other rewards include a day off for birthdays and paid charity days.”

Schofield Sweeney                                                                                                                               Schofield Sweeney is located in the city centre and has 167 employees.  It has been highlighted as “one of the best work/life balances in the profession”.  The list said: “It is not all about work at the law firm that battled for sub-postmasters in the Post Office scandal.  Schofield Sweeney, based in Bradford, aims to offer its 167 employees one of the best work/life balances in the profession.  There are tea and toast Thursdays, Iftar meals, massages, posture clinics and one volunteering day annually.  The firm has a book club and bake-off competition, a healthcare insurance plan and has promoted its first non-lawyers to associate and director level.”  It comes after the firm was named Employer of the Year Award at the Bradford Means Business Awards last summer.