It's an honour to KNOW YOU

Kerre discovers she's proud to be surrounded by worthy award winners

- KERRE WOODHAM

There was a time when the Queen's Honours lists would be released and I'd run my eye down the names of awards recipients and not have a clue who these worthy people were.

I wonder if it's a sign of age or a sign that I keep very good company these days that in the last lot of honours, now known as the King's Birthday Honours list, I knew 10 of the honourees - six of them well enough to send a message of congratulations.

They're funny old things, honours. You dismiss them as irrelevant and raise an eyebrow at the people who receive them - until it's somebody you know who absolutely deserves it.

Dame Catriona Williams, for example, has been working tirelessly for more than 20 years to fund research into spinal cord injury. She was a brilliant equestrienne and represented New Zealand on the international stage. However, a horse riding accident in 2002 left her a tetraplegic and put paid to that.