FIVE people from across the Basingstoke area have been rewarded for their hard work and community spirit in the Queen's New Year's Honours list.

Among them is senior project design engineer John Gardner, who works at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. His MBE was in recognition of services to the defence industry.

Among Mr Gardner's greatest achievements was inventing the surface contamination monitor, which reads radiation levels in any environment - whether it's the pipes of a deep sea oil rig or down a coalmine.

The monitor helps to prove that areas exposed to radioactive materials are "clean".

He said: "It was a big suprise to me, I'm really flattered because I only do my job. Working in instrumentation sounds dull until you get into it .

"Its actually fascinating but it's not something that gets a lot of recognition, which is why I'm so surprised that I've got this."

Mr Gardner, 58, lives in Bramley. He began as an electrician before working for the drawing office at AWE. From there he became an assistant experimental officer.

He went on to work on various parts of the weapons' programme before he was asked to work on the instrumentation side 20 years ago.

Also on the honours list were fire officer Peter Cowmeadow and former northern area commander of Hampshire Constabulary Keith Akerman.

Chief superintendant Akerman was awarded the Queen's Police Medal.

He has been a police officer more than 30 years and has worked across Hampshire. He was northern commander in Whitchurch in 1995. He is currently head of Hampshire CID.

Mr Cowmeadow MBE, 53, was a pupil at Basingstoke Grammar School before taking up a post as a retained firefighter in Overton in 1965.

He was promoted to Leading Fireman in 1971 and to sub officer in charge of the fire station in 1974. In the same year he joined the full time service as a control room operator in Winchester.

In 1982 he was put in charge of the Control Room and was responsible for answering more than 20,000 incidents each year.

Mr Cowmeadow, who now lives in Chandler's Ford, has held the rank of Principal Fire Control Officer for more than 18 of his 35 years' service, which rates him as one of the longest serving officers in this position anywhere in the UK.

He said: "I am very excited, it is a wonderful award for the family and for the people serving around me. It came out of the blue."

Volunteer Eileen Ruglys, of St John's Road, Oakley, was also extremely surprised at being awarded an MBE.

Mrs Ruglys was recognised for her services to the Oakley Day Centre and to Cranbourne School, Basingstoke.

Mrs Ruglys said the MBE reflected not just what she had done but the hardwork that all the volunteers put in.

The fifth recipient in North Hampshire was Olympic gold medallist Richard Faulds, from Longparish.

Richard won the double trap shooting gold medal in Sydney in September after a dramatic shoot-off with reigning Olympic champion Russell Mark.

Richard, 23, who went to Testbourne School in Whitchurch, learned to shoot on the family farm.

Sydney was not a first for him as he had competed for his country four years earlier in Atlanta when he finished fourth.

He said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to bits and delighted to have been awarded an MBE. I am pleased for my team, my coach, my parents and everyone who has helped me achieve this."