GAZETTE & HERALD: OLD soldier James Frapwell has been awarded the MBE for his tireless efforts in keeping former comrades in touch with one another.

Mr Frapwell, 86, of Esmead, Monkton Park, Chippenham, was given the honour for services to the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars G Squadron Old Comrades' Association .

Mr Frapwell is the secretary and treasurer for the association. He keeps it going and organises reunions with old veterans, their friends or widows.

He has no idea who nominated him for the award. "I didn't know anything about it until I received the preliminary letter telling me I had been recommended but you can't take that as certain," he said.

The first time Mr Frapwell knew he had been honoured was when the media phoned him last Thursday.

He said: "I was very honoured and surprised. Until I got the letter of recommendation about four or five weeks ago I had no idea I would get such an honour."

Mr Frapwell, who has a son and a daughter, joined the Army in 1938, where he was based in Tetbury. He married Elfreda, now 83, just four days before being posted to the Middle East and spent four years abroad when he didn't see her or his parents.

In 1943, Mr Frapwell served with the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars G Squadron, for which he is now secretary. "There's always lots of things going on," he said. "We've had two reunions this year, church services and ladies luncheons. We meet regularly."

Mr Frapwell, who came to live in Wiltshire after the war, began a teaching career in 1947. He worked at Lowbourne School in Melksham for seven years before becoming the headmaster of Kington St Michael in 1954.

Two years later he was manager of Heidelberg Printing Machine Company in Kington St Michael, before converting back to teaching for a 25-year stretch as a head of department at Chippenham Technical College.

Roger Reeves, deputy county commissioner for scouting in Wiltshire, manager of a Swindon Town ladies football team and chairman of the Swindon Duke of Edinburgh Award Council has been awarded an MBE.

Headteacher Ann Harris has been awarded an OBE for services to education. She was a school inspector in Berkshire before she was appointed head of Oaktree Nursery and Primary School and during her four hears at the helm she has helped raise standards.