A PIONEERING ear surgeon, a childminder, a graveyard restoration co-ordinator and a married couple who organise fell runs are among the diverse collection of the district's recipients in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals’ consultant ear surgeon and charity fundraiser Professor Chris Raine was awarded an MBE for his services to the NHS and the Ear Trust charity.

Prof Raine, who has worked at Bradford Royal Infirmary for 29 years, was nominated for his outstanding work in pioneering cochlear implants in patients who are profoundly deaf and for his commitment to the Ear Trust Charity which he founded 25 years ago to bring the state-of-the-art devices to the region’s patients.

He said: “This is an incredible honour, not only for myself, but for the NHS, my colleagues who support my work and for the Ear Trust charity which is very dear to me. This couldn’t have happened at a better time as the Ear Trust celebrates its 25th anniversary this autumn."

Prof Raine has single-handedly implanted more than 500 cochlear implants - some on babies as young as six months while the oldest recipient at Bradford was 86.

In 2009, thanks to the £2.2 million funding from the Ear Trust, the Duke of Gloucester officially opened the £2.8m Listening for Life Centre in the grounds of the BRI which now attracts patients from as far away as the Isle of Man, Sheffield, Hull, North Manchester, Carlisle and the Lake District.

Nick Weller, executive principal at Dixons Academies Trust in Bradford, has received a knighthood for his services to education.

News of the honour came the day after a supply teacher at Dixons Kings Academy was stabbed in the stomach in a classroom.

Mr Weller said: "As you will appreciate, my main thoughts at the moment are with a colleague who is continuing to make steady progress in hospital and with a school which is also recovering from the event on Thursday.

"Being chief executive of the eight Dixons Academies is a privilege in itself. Our academies and partnerships play a significant role in meeting the demand for new places in Bradford and improving schools in challenging circumstances. I am humbled by the honour and very grateful for the recognition it gives our family of academies, our staff, and our students."

Rotary and Scouts worker Carolyn Booth, of Cullingworth, who is now West Yorkshire Scouts advisor for the Duke of Edinburgh Award, has received a British Empire Medal (BEM).

She said: “I’m a bit shocked and I’m sure there are plenty of people more deserving than me. I’ve always done things I really like and generally tried to help people.”

Fell run organisers David and Eileen Woodhead have received the BEM for introducing hundreds of children to the sport over the last 30 years.

The couple, of Hainworth Wood Road, Keighley, organise races, junior champions, write articles for magazines and promote the sport making it inclusive for everyone.

Mr Woodhead, 57, said: "At first we thought it was a prank. It's brilliant to be honour, slightly shocking but brilliant. There are lots of other people like us who deserve a mention though,they are all volunteers doing it for the love of fell-running and the sociable, friendly sport that it is."

Childminder Ann Marie Corbett, 52, of East Bowling, Bradford, has been awarded the British Empire Medal for services to children.

Mrs Corbett, who has been a childminder for 31 years, providing care for more than 300 children, said she was shocked to be nominated but could not stop to comment when contacted by the Telegraph & Argus, saying: “I’ve got to go and do the school run.”

She is a member of the Bradford Childminding Association and has been actively involved in setting up the Bradford Childminding Network, which provides peer support for childminders in the area.

Margaret Gray, founder member and co-ordinator of Heaton Graveyard Project, has also received a BEM in recognition of her community work including a scheme restoring the village graveyard to its former Victorian splendour.

Mrs Gary, of of Lee Lane, Bingley, said: "The graveyard project in particular is, has been and always will be a team effort so the award honours us all."

Others receiving awards were Andrew McConnell, a former pupil of Whitcliffe Mount Grammar School, Cleckheaton, who has received an OBE for his work as director of finance at the University of Huddersfield; Amanda Neville, the former head of the National Media Museum in Bradford \and now chief executive of the British Film Institute, who received a CBE for her services to the art; Caroline Schwaller, the retired chief executive officer of Bradford Voluntary Action, who received an MBE, and Roger Marsh, Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership chairman, who received an OBE.

Yorkshire tourism chief Gary Verity - the man who persuaded Tour de France organisers to bring the Grand Depart to the county last year - has also been given a knighthood.

Sir Gary, who started his business career in Bradford and has been chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire since 2008, said: "I am honoured, delighted and quite frankly stunned by being given an award, which is normally reserved for sporting legends, great actors and others of national importance."