Four East Lothian residents on New Year Honours List

Included in the list are Longniddry astronomer Gillian Wright for services to astronomy and Cockenzie tapestry artist Andrew Crummy for services to Art and Cultural Heritage.

While Musselburgh's Tansy Main received an OBE for services to Victims in Scotland and Chris Wilkins from Dirleton an MBE for services to People Living with Dementia and Loneliness.

Gillian Wright from Longniddry was honoured with her CBE for services to Astronomy through International Missions.

Gillian is the director of the UK Astronomy and Technology Centre (UK-ATC) and is also the European PI for the James Webb Space Telescope Mid-IR Instrument, and a visiting professor of the Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh.

She studied Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow before obtaining her PhD in physics from Imperial College London in 1986 and was appointed to an Royal Observatory of Edinburgh Fellowship.

She has worked as a staff scientist at United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii and then as head of instrumentation from 1995 until 1997, when she then joined the newly formed UK-ATC.

Gillian has more than 30 years experience of ground and space-based instrumentation for astronomy having provided scientific, technical and management leadership for projects ranging from observatory management software, through critical mechanism sub-systems, to entire instruments.

She also worked as a co-investigator for the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver instrument (SPIRE) on European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, which was active from 2009 to 2013.

She was awarded an MBE for Services to Science in 2006.

Tansy Main from Musselburgh has also been honoured with an OBE for her services to Victims in Scotland.

Tansy works as part of the Chief Medical Officer’s Taskforce on Rape and Sexual Assault Unit for the Scottish Government.

The group was set up for the improvement of healthcare and forensic medical services for adults, children and young people who have experienced rape, sexual assault or child sexual abuse.

The taskforce works closely with health boards and other multi-agency partners to ensure the delivery of person centred, trauma informed services for people of all ages.

Andrew Crummy, The artist behind the mammoth Great Tapestry of Scotland, has said he felt like he was following in his mother's footsteps as, just like her, he was made an MBE.

Mr Crummy has worked on a number of large-scale public projects, including designing a 143-metre (469ft) long tapestry which tells the history of Scotland, and has been made an MBE in the New Year's Honours for services to art and cultural heritage.

The 63-year-old, of Cockenzie, said it was a "honour" to be given the rank and to have worked with people on the various projects he has been involved with.

"I was really surprised, I didn't quite believe it. It took me quite a while to believe it, to be honest. It was a complete surprise to me," said the artist on receiving news of the honour.

In 1976 his mother Helen Crummy was made an MBE for her work in the community arts in Edinburgh's Craigmillar, and Mr Crummy said he remembered going to Buckingham Palace with her, his father and his brother to see the investiture.

Mr Crummy said his work now came out of what she did in the Scottish capital, and added: "I think she would be really proud of it because it's carrying on her tradition of community arts projects."

Her statue now stands pride of place outside Craigmillar's library in honour of the work she did, which included founding The Craigmillar Festival Society.

The father-of-two, who was born in that area of the city, has designed a number of tapestries since 2009 including the Battle of Prestonpans, The Scottish Diaspora and the Declaration of Arbroath.

Mr Crummy also overcame throat cancer in 2019, using his experiences to weave the Cancer Tapestry which helped tell the thousands of cancer stories, and to show the compassion of NHS staff, family and friends.

But none match the scale of the Great Tapestry of Scotland, which is one of the world's largest community arts projects and involved the work of more than 1,000 people.

Dubbed Scotland's Bayeux Tapestry, it involved 55,000 sewing hours and 49,000 metres (160,761ft) of yarn.

A Dirleton man who co-founded a charity and enterprise that helps older people connect and reminisce through the power of sport has also been honoured with an MBE.

Chris Wilkins was recognised for services to People Living with Dementia and Loneliness through work with his charity Sporting Memories.

Launched in 2011, Sporting Memories supports a wide range of people from the age of 50, including those living with dementia, living with depression or facing isolation and loneliness to improve their mental and physical wellbeing through our regular club sessions, situated within local communities across England, Scotland and Wales.

Mr Wilkins was originally inspired to find a way in which they could support older people who were facing challenges in later life, be it living with dementia or long-term conditions, depression or simply being isolated and lonely.

From this came the idea for Sporting Memories allowing those who most needed it to reconnect with others and improve their mental and physical wellbeing.

The very first Sporting Memories Club was founded in East Lothian and the charity has since spread throughout Scotland, England and Wales with more than 100 clubs hosting weekly sessions online and in person every week.