New Year, new honours 

Nathaniel Hepburn, director and chief executive of the Charleston Trust Photograph by Alun Callender

Several AIM members including past and present Trustees were included in the King’s New Year’s Honours announced last week.  

Former AIM Trustee Brian Gorski, Board Chairman at The Fusilier Museum, and Colonel Heritage for the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was recognised with an OBE. Nathaniel Hepburn (pictured), Chief Executive and Director of Charleston and an AIM Trustee was awarded an MBE.  

Elsewhere in the sector Richard Deverell, Director of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was appointed CBE, as were Chair of the National Trust, Rene Olivieri, Richard Broyd of Historic House Hotels and Goodwood’s Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, Duke of Richmond and Gordon. Chief Executive of International Bomber Command Center, Nicola Van Der Drift gained an OBE alongside Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery and Nick Merriman, Chief Executive, English Heritage. 

MBEs were also awarded to Joseph Galliano-Doig, Director and Founder of Queer Britain, Nicolas Hill, National Conservation Projects Manager at Historic England and Archive and Manuscript Consultant Joan Winterkorn. Melanie Gardner, Curator at Tullie House Museum, Alexander Ritchie, founder member of the Buchan Heritage Society and Harbaksh Singh Grewal, Vice Chair of the UK Punjab Heritage Association received British Empire Medals. 

Read the full list of honours>> 

AIM is keen to support nominations celebrating the breadth of great work in independent museums and heritage.

Honours nominations are submitted to a committee which makes decisions on awards: for museums and heritage this is usually the Arts and Media Committee, currently chaired by John Booth, Chair of National Gallery and Prince’s Trust.

An important element of making a nomination is showing how the nominee has made an individual and unique contribution to their community and the nation by going above and beyond the demands of the job.

For more detail on making a nomination visit the UK Gov pages.

Image, top: Nathaniel Hepburn, Director and Chief Executive of the Charleston Trust. Photograph by Alun Callender