Inspirational Matt in ‘complete shock’ after OBE award

The 36-year-old, who lives at Cold Overton, was left paralysed from the neck down following an accident in a rugby training session in 2005.

He was only 20 when it happened but then showed incredible drive to launch the Matt Hampson Foundation almost a decade ago - a charity which offers advice, support and treatment for anyone who has suffered serious injury or disability, in particular as a result of sport.

Two years ago, the foundation opened the Get Busy Living Centre, at Burrough-on-the-Hill, a rehabilitation centre which also acts a social venue where injured beneficiaries can help each other.

Reacting to the award of his OBE, Matt, a former Leicester Tigers and England Under 21 rugby player, said: “This was a complete shock and I’m blown away to be recognised in this way.

“After my injury I just decided to get busy living and focus on the positives in life.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved with the foundation over the past 10 years and the amount of people we have helped to rebuild their lives following serious injury.

“Next year we celebrate our 10th anniversary and I’m really excited about what we have planned for the future.”

Tommy Cawston, CEO of the foundation and a close friend, said: “Matt has dedicated his life to helping others in a similar situation to him and this recognition is well-deserved.

“What he’s achieved since his injury is remarkable and here at the foundation we are all really proud of him.”

Despite relying on a mechanical ventilator to help him breathe, Matt has been a driving force in his charity and has been praised by former England rugby skipper Mike Tindall, the patron of the charity, as ‘an inspiration’.

Mike said, on learning of Matt’s honour: “I have had the immense privilege of knowing Matt for nearly 15 years and also more recently being patron of the Matt Hampson Foundation.

“Watching what he has achieved and the amount of lives he has changed is phenomenal and I am delighted for him that he has been recognised in this way.”

England rugby star and former World Cup winner Jason Robinson paid a tribute to Matt via Twitter, posting ‘You continue to inspire and bring hope to many’.

The England Rugby Football Union Tweeted: “Congratulations to all of those awarded Honours including the inspiring Matt Hampson who has been awarded an OBE for his incredible work in supporting those who are seriously injured through sport.”

Claire Lomas, an MBE herself, and who has raised more £700,000 towards a cure for paralysis after being paralysed from the chest down in an eventing accident, Tweeted: “So well deserved to one of the most amazing people on this planet, huge congrats.”

And Melton MP, Alicia Kearns, posted her own tribute, describing Matt’s honour as ‘so incredibly and utterly deserved’.

Solicitor, Glynis Wright, who lives in Melton, is celebrating being awarded an MBE in the honours list for her services to female entrepreneurship.

The 57-year-old is founder and head of her own Leicester-based practice after retraining as a lawyer when she was 40.

She set the firm up in 2011, recognising a need for an ethical approach to working with families in divorce, and has grown the business to an annual turnover in excess of £1million, with 19 members of staff.

Earlier this month, she sold shares in her law firm to regional corporates Nelsons, with whom she is now a partner having brought across her entire all-female team of lawyers.

●Glynis’s company won Law Firm of the Year (Small) in the National Law Society Awards 2018 and also scooped the East Midlands Business Masters Awards last year for their contribution to the community, in recognition of the extensive corporate social responsibility work the business gets involved in.

She has run and held Inspirational Women in Business seminars for the last three years, to inspire others to run their own businessess and become entrepreneurs.

In addition, Glynis is● one of the driving forces behind the Pulled Both Ways campaign, which encourages parents to think hard about the impact of divorce and separation on their children if handled badly.

She was appointed president of the Leicestershire Law Society in May 2019, with her year of office being extended to September this year to assist the Law Society strategically through the first months of the pandemic, and was recently appointed chair of the Advisory Board to the Faculty of Law and Business at De Montfort University for a three-year term.