ONCE again, Islanders have been honoured through the prestigious awards which are made every year on the Queen’s official birthday. The three made Members of the Order of the British Empire this year – Rosemary Coote, Brian Curtis and Paul du Feu – have served the community here and people overseas in three distinct ways, but they all merit recognition for the way in which they have been prepared to put others before themselves.

Mrs Coote has directed her attention to Romania, an underprivileged country which is still struggling desperately to recover from many decades of misrule. Deeply touched by the plight of Romanian children, she has orchestrated help from members of our community and has made a real difference to the lives of the individuals who had been living in conditions that we in one of the most affluent parts of the affluent West can scarcely imagine.

Paul du Feu will be well known to everyone in the Island’s sporting circles and very well known indeed to anyone involved in swimming or the Island Games. A driving force behind Jersey Tigers Swimming Club and a former national coach, Mr du Feu has given up countless hours – many of them well before the crack of dawn – to coach and encourage competitive swimmers. He has also been a key figure in the Island Games movement, particularly at the Jersey Games in 1997, when he was a pivotal organiser of that complex and highly impressive set of events.

Finance is the province of Brian Curtis, but not in the sense of high-level wheeling and dealing or massive profits. He is the chairman of Community Savings and Credit, Jersey’s much-valued and much-needed community bank. As well as providing savings opportunities and low-interest loans for the less well off, the bank offers free advice at its Town Hall offices. It also serves as an informal point of contact for those who have few other acquaintances to whom they can talk in an informal and friendly setting.

All three new MBEs have earned their awards by dint of hard work and dedication. They clearly deserve the heartiest congratulations from their fellow Islanders.

It is also true that their achievements reflect well on the community of which they are members – a community which has a fine tradition of service to others for no material reward.