THE good work of Swindon people appears to have been overlooked in the Queen's New Year's Honours list.

After a bounty of awards last year to local people including a headteacher, milkman and policeman nobody from the town has been recognised for their efforts this year.

The only direct connections to Swindon are a knighthood given to Professor Richard Brook, the former chief executive of the North Star-based Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and a CBE to Michael Hastings, the chairman of Swindon-based crime prevention organisation, Crime Concern.

Vanda Murray, chief executive officer of Swindon-based Blick plc, also received an OBE for services to industry and to export.

But Swindon Mayor, David Cox, said he pays little attention to the honours list when it comes to recognising those who work hard for the community.

He said: "I don't think it is a bad reflection on Swindon. All you need to do is pick up a copy of the Adver to read about all the good work being done here.

"The important thing is that those people are recognised in the community. If people don't hear nationally about the good things people are doing here, there's not much we can do about that, but we can celebrate them locally and the Adver's Spirit of Swindon awards have done that this year.

"The honours are a bit of a lucky dip really, but if you gave awards to everyone in Swindon who deserved one, you would have a list as long as your arm."

Last year the recipients included Hylton Thomas, the former head of Wootton Bassett School, who was given an OBE, pioneering Swindon bobby, PC Ian Horne, who was given a Queen's Police Medal and 73-year-old milkman, Stanley Robins, who set up Wootton Bassett Dairy 51 years ago and was given an OBE for services to the community.

The knighthood to Prof Brook this year is for services to science and engineering. He stood down as chief executive of the EPSRC in October to be replaced by Prof John O'Reilly.

The CBE to Mr Hastings is for services to crime reduction. Crime Concern is a national organisation based in Victoria Road, Swindon, which provides advice and help on crime prevention and runs more than 60 projects across the country, many of which are focussed on youth and neighbourhoods. Mr Hastings is also head of political and parliamentary affairs at the BBC.

Alastair Hope McWhirter, the deputy chief constable of Wiltshire Police, has also been honoured with a Queen's Police Medal.

Julia Drown, MP for South Swindon, said the town should not feel too disappointed by the lack of honours.

She said: "It would be nice to get some more national recognition for Swindon people who do such wonderful things in the community, but we shouldn't be too downhearted.

"We're not short of success in Swindon and that was shown in last year's honours. We have also seen many local people honoured in other ways, such as the teachers from Kingsdown School and Westlea Primary who won national awards this year.

"These honours can only recognise a small proportion of those who do good work across the country. We know we have some fantastic people in Swindon and that's what matters."

The Advertiser launched its Spirit of Swindon awards this year to compliment Swindon Council's city status bid. A total of 11 people were chosen for awards to recognise their efforts working in the community.