SOME of Hampshire's most dedicated community and charity workers have shared in today's New Year Honours.

They include Ron Foulkes, 72, of Littleton, near Winchester, who has been chairman of the Friends of Countess Mountbatten House for ten years and has become an MBE.

During that time, £3m has been raised for the Botley Road hospice in West End, which opened in 1977 and is based at Moorgreen Hospital.

The Friends also spearheaded a fundraising drive to raise £2m for the 25-bed in-patient block, which was officially opened last year by the Prince of Wales. Alongside is a newly-converted day centre.

Mr Foulkes said the award was a reflection of the work carried out by many people, including doctors, nurses other hospice staff and volunteers.

It also comes at a fitting time - next year is the 25th anniversary of the Friends and Countess Mountbatten House.

Sixty years of service to the Milford-on-Sea community has been rewarded for Freda Cheyney, who becomes an MBE.

Mrs Cheyney, 81, spent nearly 50 years in Girl Guide uniform, including 45 years as Captain of the 1st Milford-on-Sea company and a spell as District Commissioner.

Mrs Cheyney, who also raises money for the Guide Dogs for the Blind, has been a poppy appeal collector for 60 years and is chairman of the Royal British Legion Women's Section Milford-on-Sea branch, where she organises holidays for service widows.

She said: "I don't deserve it. It should be for the people of Milford-on-Sea, they are so kind and generous."

Chairman of Bramshaw Parish Council Jack Sturgess, 76, has been made an MBE.

Mr Sturgess described it as a "pat on the back" for the parish council. Married with two children, Mr Sturgess has been at the helm of the village authority since 1990.

His family's links with the New Forest stretch back over 400 years.

Mr Sturgess was chief further education officer for Hampshire from 1974 to 1987 and joined the parish council in 1988.

He said: "It is always nice to be appreciated but I regard this as a pat on the back for the parish council. We are a good team.''

Hampshire businessman David Luckett, 60, chairman and founder of Fareham-based Lucketts Travel, also becomes an MBE.

In 1998 the company was voted Coach Operator of the Year for medium-sized fleets and over the years has won many coach industry training awards.

The honour is also for Mr Luckett's community work, during which he has helped raise thousands of pounds for Macmillan Cancer Relief.

Senior Forestry Commission officer in the New Forest Donald Thompson has been awarded the OBE.

Mr Thompson, 58, became deputy surveyor of the Crown Lands of the New Forest at the end of 1997 and came to Lyndhurst after holding a top post in the Forestry Commission's headquarters management team in Edinburgh.

A Hampshire man who helped make school playtime fun by turning bleak landscapes surrounding schools into exciting learning zones has also been awarded the OBE.

But Hampshire County Council assistant county planning officer Merrick Denton-Thompson, 53, was unaware of the honour until the Daily Echo broke the news to him.

Mr Denton-Thompson - who is also the county's landscape architect and head of countryside - knew he was being considered for the New Year Honours list but had not been informed that he was being honoured for services to the Learning Through Landscapes Trust.

He joined Hampshire County Council in 1978 and was working as a junior member of staff when he was given the brief of designing school landscapes.

"I wrote to the government on behalf of Hampshire County Council and said the school land was among the most impoverished in the country - yet it should be the most important because it is here that children learn as well," he said.

In 1983 Mr Denton-Thompson formed a consortium with Berkshire and Surrey County Councils to embark on a development project which resulted in a change of government policy.

John Paull Williams, 55, managing director of Giro Engineering Limited of Park Gate, who lives at Old Alresford, becomes an MBE for his services to the defence industry. His company manufactures Doublewall diesel injection pipe assemblies and systems.

Mr Williams, who is married with one son, said: "The MBE is an honour for the company and everyone who has worked for it."