Residents recognised by Queen in New Years Honours list

For the first time the number of women in the New Year's Honours List topped the number of men - something reflected in the honours list locally where the vast majority of recipients are women this time. 

Susan O’Brien, of Ashtead, chief executive officer for leading executive recruitment firm Norman Broadbent, has been made an OBE for services to gender equality in the workplace and voluntary service to the community.  She is a founder member of the Women’s Business Council.

Susan O’Brien

Professor Abhay Rane, of Tadworth, a consultant urological surgeon at East Surrey
Hospital, in Redhill, has also been made an OBE for his services to laparoscopic surgery - a surgical procedure which allows a surgeon to access the inside of the abdomen and pelvis without having to make large incisions in the skin.

Having trained in India and the UK, Professor Rane pioneer the technique of hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy - the latter being an operation to remove a diseased kidney, in the UK from 2000.  He was then the first to identify the usefulness of the techniques in T3b renal cancers.

The author of numerous clinical papers and reviews, he has been awarded the British Urological Foundation Award and a bronze award by the Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards in recognition of his sustained and dedicated contribution to the NHS.

Doreen Rowland, of Banstead, an occupational therapist at the Ministry of Defence, has been made an OBE for her services to the armed forces personnel.

An OBE also goes to Epsom’s Dr Jenifer Tennison, a technical director at the Open Data Institute, for her services to technology and open data.

Tom Drake, of Tadworth, has been awarded the MBE for his charity work for Rotary club and to the community in Epsom and Ewell.

Mr Drake has been a member of  Ewell Rotary Club for 35 years and is its longest-serving member and has served as president twice.

He is committed to raising awareness of the need for safe water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.  Along with Primrose Drake, Mr Drake has been honoured by HRH Prince of Wales, President of WaterAid, with an award for Outstanding Voluntary Contribution in recognition of their dedication in fundraising and campaigning for WaterAid over 15 years.

The MBE has also been awarded to Dr Anna-Maria Rollin, 67, of College Road, in Epsom, who is a consultant anaesthetist in Epsom Hospital’s anaesthetics and critical care department, for her services to anaesthesia.

Qualifying as a doctor in 1970, she was one of the youngest people to be appointed as a consultant in 1977.

Dr Rollin said: "I am very pleased, very flattered and delighted for myself because it was completely unexpected and also for my department who have supported me.  It is an excellent department.

"I enjoy my job enormously.  Anaesthetics is applied physiology and pharmacology - it looks at the effects of drugs on people.  Everyone is different, every case is different.  And it is very acute, which suits my temperament."

She has undertaken a lot of work on safety in anaesthesia and has served as the vice-president of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, as president of the section of anaesthesia of the Royal Society of Medicine and is now a professional standards advisor for the Royal College of Anaesthetists. 

Dr Rollin added: "I am absolutely delighted but an enormous amount of the credit goes to my department who have enabled to do all these things.  And to my family - who has put up with many a delayed meal over the years."

Anne Hoblyn, of Epsom, has also been recognised with an MBE.  A higher executive officer in the work services directorate in the Department for Work and Pensions, she has been given the honour for services to the unemployed and the community in Epsom.