New Year Honours: MBE for parents' work tackling gambling 'harm'

A mother and father honoured for their work helping those left bereaved by gambling-related suicide say their MBEs recognise the "harm" caused by betting.

Liz and Charles Ritchie set up the charity Gambling with Lives after their son Jack, 24, took his own life while battling a gambling addiction.

The pair, from Sheffield, have worked to raise awareness of the harm and high suicide risk linked to gambling.

Mrs Ritchie said the MBEs recognised the suffering people went through.

Their son, who became hooked on fixed-odds terminals in his teens, died in 2017 while working as a teacher in Vietnam.

Mrs Ritchie said: "We thought it was a positive thing to accept the MBE on behalf of everybody who's died and their families who have worked with us.

"And, to be honest, it feels like a recognition of the suffering that the people who have died went through and the suffering that the families continue to feel."

Mrs Ritchie, a former NHS consultant psychotherapist, said the charity's aims were the introduction of affordability checks, a ban on gambling advertising and the imposition of a levy to make sure the gambling industry footed the bill for properly provided treatment, public information and education.

She said: "People don't have to die. We can prevent the deaths. It is down to inaction and the predatory marketing of very toxic products that is causing these deaths.

"It can be stopped, and what this MBE feels like is that it's a recognition of the harm," Mrs Ritchie said.

Elsewhere across Yorkshire, other people have been appointed MBEs, including Bryn Hughes, the father of PC Nicola Hughes, who was murdered while on duty in 2012.

Mr Hughes, from Huddersfield, set up a memorial fund in his daughter's name to help young people who had lost a close family member through a violent crime such as murder or manslaughter.

Also honoured is Chris Kamara, 64, who has been recognised for services to football and tackling racism in the sport, as well as his work for charity.

The former footballer and manager, from Wakefield, endured years of racial abuse throughout his 21-year playing career, which saw stints at Leeds United, Sheffield United and Bradford City as well at several other clubs.

Writer Helena Whitbread, from Halifax, has also received an MBE in King Charles's first ever New Year's Honours list.

The 90-year-old is best known for the decryption and editing of the secret coded diaries of 19th Century Halifax landowner Anne Lister.

Lister has been described as the "first modern lesbian" and her diaries detailed her life and her relationships.

Ms Whitbread discovered the diaries in the 1980s and spent five years decoding and transcribing them, working on dozens of pages each weekend.

After five years spent poring over the diaries written between 1817 and 1824, Ms Whitbread published a book, I Know My Own Heart, detailing Lister's tangled web of lovers across Yorkshire.

Meanwhile, Richard Holmes, managing director of West Yorkshire cheesemongers Cryer and Stott, said he was "proud and humbled" to be appointed MBE for services to the British food industry.

The recognition comes as the family-run firm, based in Castleford, celebrates 25 years in business, in what the company described as a "huge milestone after what has been a testing few years".

Several members of the emergency services across Yorkshire have also been honoured for their distinguished service by receiving the King's Police Medal and King's Fire Service Medal - renamed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September.

They include North Yorkshire Police's deputy chief constable Phillip Cain and John Roberts, chief fire officer for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

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