Honour for Great Ryburgh environmentalist, Norfolk MP and Sandringham estate workers in Queen’s New Year’s Honours
Jennifer Lonsdale, who has been made an OBE. - Credit: Archant
Jennifer Lonsdale has been made an OBE for her work with the Environmental Investigation Agency.
The group, which Mrs Lonsdale co-founded in 1984, uses undercover filming and other techniques to expose environmental crimes around the world.
Mrs Lonsdale, 64, from Great Ryburgh, said: “I feel very proud and privileged. It’s one of those things you expect to happen to other people, you never think it will happen to you.
“When you get your letter from the Cabinet Office, it’s a bit of a shock. It’s a real tribute to the work of the organisation I helped found.”
The fledgling EIA sparked an international outcry in the 1980s, when it exposed whale culling in the Faroe Islands.
Since then it has helped secure a ban on ivory trading, exposed rhino poaching, campaigned against habitat loss, illegal mining, overfishing, pollution and marine litter. It continues to campaign against whaling.
“When we started, we were rebels making a stand, saying this can’t go on,” said Mrs Lonsdale. “Nowadays, we’re working with governments around the world.”
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North West Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham was made a Knight Bachelor for political and parliamentary service.
Alan Goodship, kennelman at Sandringham since 2004, was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order. Darren Palmer, a gardener on the estate, was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal.
