A WOMAN who has helped thousands of school children to read, sew and rear animals during a career spanning more than 40 years has been made a MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list.

Jean Heath, 72, started helping at Chadlington Primary School, near Chipping Norton, when her eldest son Steven started there in the late 1960s.

Four decades on, Mrs Heath, of Church Road, continues to help on a voluntary basis because she “loves every single minute there”.

Her MBE for services to the school was one of 16 for Oxfordshire people revealed last night in the New Year Honours list.

Mother-of-four Mrs Heath, who has lived in the village with husband Peter since 1961, said she was “gobsmacked” when she received the letter.

She said: “I have not told anybody because I thought it was a prank. My brother is a real one for wind-ups, so I did have my suspicions.

“I couldn’t believe it when I opened the letter. Now it has sunk in a bit I do feel very honoured to have been singled out.”

Mrs Heath started as a volunteer, before taking on a paid role 20 years ago. When she reached 70 the school could no longer pay her — so she once again became a volunteer.

She said: “I love the school and everything about it.”

Meanwhile, a 95-year-old volunteer at Dorchester Tea Room and the Abbey Museum has been made a MBE for her services to heritage and the local community.

Gwynneth ‘Mary’ Tame, from Dorchester-on-Thames, has spent countless hours researching and writing articles about the history of the village. The former Marsh Baldon Primary School headteacher said: “I was completely shocked to hear about the honour and I have no idea who put me forward. ”

Margaret Ferriman, who lives in Wroxton, near Banbury, was made a MBE for services to community relations. Ms Ferriman was a member of the county council for 20 years and a Cherwell district councillor.

The honour recognises her work with the Banbury District Racial Equality Council, which she helped found more than 30 years ago and of which she is currently chairman.

The leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, Ann Ducker, was also made a MBE. Mrs Ducker has been a district councillor since 1984 and has led the Tory group since 1994.

Susan Knox, from Yarnton, receives an OBE for her services to food safety. She was honoured for her work with Foodaware, a consumer group set up to monitor and investigate food safety, nutrition and standards. Mrs Knox said: “It was a lovely shock.”

Other local awards include a DBE for Prof Valerie Beral, who directs the Cancer Epidemiology Unit in Oxford, for services to science, and a CBE for Adrian Shooter, the chairman of Chiltern Railways.

OBEs also go to Oxford University maths professor Marcus Du Sautoy, for services to science, and Henry Russell, former chairman of the National Association of General Commissioners. Dr Charles Bird, the strategic health adviser to Natural England, who lives in Henley, is made a MBE, as is Lyndon Filer, chief executive of the Police Rehabilitation Centre at Goring. Other MBEs are Henry Jones, of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Abingdon, for services to science; Michael Martin, of Goring, for voluntary work; Thomas Sermon, of Banbury, the chairman of London Youth; Benjamin Simpson, of Oxford, for his work as a magistrate and Prof Robert Williams, for services to the community in North Oxford.