HUNDREDS of medals for blind bowling have earned an 83-year-old woman from Carterton an MBE.

Madge Morgan, of Foxcroft Road, was awarded the honour after winning golds for England in numerous championships, including the disabled World Championships.

She took up lawn bowls in 1967 when she was starting to go blind, with husband Mal Morgan as her coach.

Blind lawn bowls is played with the assistance of a sighted helper, who describes where the bowls should finish by referring to the numbers of a clock.

The couple were the oldest medal winners at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta.

Mrs Morgan said: "I am thrilled by the honour. I was hoping for one, but I haven't told anyone yet.

"I've had to give up bowls now, but I loved it. I made lots of friends and spent time in the fresh air.

"I went all over the world with my husband as my coach.

"Bowling as a blind person is very difficult. You have to go by the clock for direction and yards or inches for distance.

"I think I have encouraged lots of people to take up the sport. There are hundreds of clubs all over the country now."

Mrs Morgan retired from national competition in 2000, after an accident in which she injured her leg and face. Now she has given up the sport altogether, devoting time instead to her dogs.

Mr Morgan has written his medal-winning wife's autobiography and invented a special clock to help blind people take part in lawn bowls.

The couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary three years ago, having met in 1940, when he offered her his place in a queue at a fish and chip shop.

She worked in Coventry in a munitions factory, before they opened a series of shops together.

The bowls-mad pair moved to Carterton 31 years ago to be close to their two children, Maxine and Keith.

Last month, Mrs Morgan was one of the first people to be awarded one of Carterton's highest honours, an exceptional citizen award presented by Lord Lieutenant Hugh Brunner.

Others to receive honours:

  • A knighthood has gone to Paul Hayter, of Charlton, near Banbury, the Clerk of the Parliaments of the House of Lords.

Commenting on the honour, he said: "After 43 years in the House of Lords, this is a welcome recognition of a lifetime of service before I retire in November."

  • Lady Helen Caldwell, Parliamentary Counsel, from Chilson, near Chipping Norton, receives a CB (Commander of the Bath).
  • Prof Susan Burnell CBE, Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford University, has been awarded the DBE for services to science. She lives in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire.
  • Director of tribunals training at the Judicial Studies Board, Godfrey Cole, of Southmoor Road in Oxford, receives a CBE for services to the administration of justice.
  • Prof Jane Aldgate, of Lonsdale Road in Oxford, receives an OBE for services to children and families due to her work as advisor on child welfare and Professor of Social Care at Open University.
  • An Oxford University "scout" and housekeeper has been made MBE for her services to higher education.

Margaret Scully, of Southmoor Road, works part-time at Corpus Christi College, in Merton Street.

She is a scout, the name Oxford University gives to the college staff responsible for cleaning and maintaining students' rooms and for serving at table.

  • Frances Slade, of Whichford Road in Hook Norton, has received an MBE for services to the pig industry.

The 69-year-old has chaired for over 10 years the voluntary Ladies In Pigs organisation, which is mainly wives and partners of farmers who are promoting British pork products directly to the consumer.

In parallel to that she has worked to promote the conservation and genetic diversity of rare breeds, and the Welsh pig in particular. She is also a national pig judge and vice president of the British Pig Association.

  • Farmer Douglas Read has been awarded an MBE for his commitment to competitive ploughing over the past 50 years.

Mr Read, of Black Bourton, won his first ploughing match in 1948, after coming from a strong farming background.

The 77-year-old, who has spent thousands of hours sitting on tractors, won numerous awards as a champion plougher.

He now passes his skills on to the next generation by coaching ploughing and doing work for the National Society of Ploughmen.

Mr Read said: "This is a great honour for me. One of the skills in ploughing is keeping in a straight line. It is a very painstaking job.

"It's important that all these skills should not be taken to the grave."

  • And Dr Frank Briscoe, the operations director at UKAEA Culham Science Centyre has received a MBE for services to fusion energy development.