THE founder of a successful art festival has been selected to receive an MBE as part of The Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Amanda Aldous set up the Hackwood Art Festival (HAF) in 2004, and it has since become a notable event in the national art calendar.

She is one of four people in the borough to appear in The Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

The mother-of-four came up with the idea for the festival as a way of combining her passion for contemporary art with finding a use for some unused 18th century barns at Hackwood Farm.

The 54-year-old told The Gazette: “My children had just started at school so I was going back to work. I had a radio programme on Radio 4 and was interviewing someone who had a cow shed in Cornwall who was putting on a big art show. I live in a Grade II listed range of barns so I thought ‘I could do that here’.”

The event raises money for local charities, and the last two festivals have raised funds for St Michael’s Hospice, in Basingstoke, generating around £10,000 each year.

Mrs Aldous, who runs an art agency, said she was shocked to discover she had been selected to receive an MBE, adding: “I was very surprised. I’m delighted and pleased that the festival and all the work that everyone has done has received recognition. I feel that several of us should have got it.”

David Ogborn, from Tadley, was also included in the honours list, selected to receive a British Empire Medal for services to community music.

Mr Ogborn was the founder of Basingstoke Festival of Choirs, and was musical director for 28 years. The conductor retired from the role in 2009.

Marion Cornick received an MBE for services to education.

Mrs Cornick founded The Loddon School, in Sherfield-on-Loddon, in 1988 for children with severe learning difficulties including autism.

She has been involved in special education since 1961.

The governor of Fort Hill Community School, in Winklebury, saw an opportunity when an old school closed in 1988 and she personally leased the building from another trust to start a school for children who had no provision at the time. She said: “I am extremely pleased that the work the school has accomplished for children with autism and severe complex needs has been recognised.”

A scientist from the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) was selected for an MBE for nearly 60 years’ service to the UK’s nuclear deterrent programme.

Since 1957 Brian Lambourn has worked at AWE Aldermaston working on the effects of shockwaves in materials. His work has brought theoretical insight into shockwave dynamics, which underlies much of the physics that underpins nuclear warhead safety.

The 84-year-old, who still works two days a week at AWE and is from Tadley, said: “AWE has shaped my life in many ways, professionally and personally. I am greatly honoured to receive this award, it feels like the pinnacle of my career.”