A NEWTOWNARDS teacher has travelled to Windsor Castle to receive an MBE. Heather Houston received her award from the Prince of Wales on November 1st, for her outstanding service to further education and the wider community through her work with the elderly.
Ms Houston has been teaching at Belfast Metropolitan College for 35 years, taking 16 to 19 year-olds through their A-Levels. The MBE recipient, who has won awards for teaching in the past, has also done extensive work with the Warehouse in Newtownards. Her upcoming work also includes the Silver Santa scheme, which is due to take place this December, in which participants send presents to the elderly who may have no family.
The Newtownards teacher describes how her increased work with elderly people was influenced by the passing of her mother due to Covid. Receiving her award from Prince William, Ms Houston said they spoke about the rewarding nature of community work and how it can help process grief. “That has all come out of my mum having died of Covid,” she said. “She was in a care home and that triggered me to do more community work with the elderly”. “He [the Prince of Wales] was actually very chatty, and asked me about what I had done in my teaching career, what subject I taught and what age groups. “I spoke about the fact that my mum had passed from Covid, and how that had been the drive for doing more community work with elderly people who maybe don’t have family coming to visit them in care homes or in their homes independently” Ms Houston added. Ms Houston also described the conversation she and the Prince of Wales had regarding grief and how to process emotions associated with it. “I was obviously very aware that he had just lost his grandmother, the Queen. He talked about how working within the community can be very rewarding and help us process emotions that you have around grief” she added.
Ms Houston was included in the New Year’s Honours list in 2021 but there was a delay due to the pandemic which meant she only received her award last week. Having now received her award, Ms Houston said she felt very proud that her work had been recognised. “For me, because part of it came out of having lost my mum, it then gave me the impetus to do more work within the community. But I am very proud of my 35 years in service within teaching in further education,” she said.
