UTV star Pamela Ballantine and actor James Martin among those from NI recognised in New Year Honours list

UTV star Ballantine has been made an MBE on the first anniversary of being diagnosed with breast cancer for her many years of work supporting charities.

The UTV star, who is recovering from cancer after surgery and treatment, said the timing of the New Year Honours List announcement made it that bit more poignant.

The well-known 65-year-old TV personality has been honoured with an MBE for her many years of charity fundraising with multiple different organisations.

"I've been involved in getting awards for other people, I've been asked to help promote and nominate other people for awards, so I know this process takes a number of years," she told the PA news agency.

"So it's rather lovely that it has come at the end of the year when it was this time last year - December 29 2022 - I was told I had breast cancer.

"And then, in July, I was told that I don't, which is fantastic.

"But I know this award hasn't come along because I had breast cancer. It's been a long time in the making, so it's just so lovely that the two have married in together.

"While 2023 is a year for a lot of things that I'm very grateful for, it's not exactly how I wanted my year to pan out.

"But I can look back on this year as being sort of very much life changing and life affirming and to receive this award at the end of the year is just icing on the cake."

Ms Ballantine said the letter informing her of her inclusion on the honours list was a "huge shock".

"I was absolutely thrilled and very surprised as well," she said.

The Belfast-born presenter is involved in charitable work through several roles.

She is on the boards of both the Belfast Activity Centre and Youth Action; is vice chair of multicultural organisation ArtsEkat; is regional chair of Action Medical Research in Northern Ireland; and is a patron of Bowel Cancer UK.

The horse lover is also chair of the Down Royal Corporation of Horse Breeders.

"It's lovely to be invited in to be asked to do these things," she said.

"And I think being able to be approached and asked to be involved in charities is a really nice thing to do."

The presenter is not the first member of her family to be honoured by a monarch.

On the mantelpiece of her home in east Belfast, there is a picture of herself aged 18, along with her sister Susan and her late parents Bob and Edna Rolston at Buckingham Palace in 1976.

They were there attending a ceremony where her father was made CBE for his contribution to business.

Ms Ballantine said she knew what her parents would have said if they had been alive to hear their daughter had been made an MBE.

"Mum and dad are no longer with us, and I just know that they will now both be going 'well done dear'," she said.

Meanwhile Belfast Oscar-winning actor James Martin told how he “cried his eyes out” after learning he was to be made an MBE in the New Year Honours List.

Martin, who has Down’s syndrome, said he hoped the honour would inspire people with learning difficulties.

The honour caps a remarkable year for the actor, after the short film An Irish Goodbye swept the major awards ceremonies.

Martin also got to meet US President Joe Biden during his visit to Belfast in April and was made an honorary graduate by Ulster University.

He also made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the first actor with Down’s syndrome to star in a film which won an Oscar, a Bafta and an Ifta.

He told the PA news agency: “It has been a fantastic year, it has been one of those years that a lot of people are talking about it.

“Not just from the Baftas to the Oscars, it has been a great nine months.”

He told of his excitement after receiving the letter which informed him he was to be made an MBE.

“I was really emotional and really happy. It is amazing when you get something in the post, you get really excited about something and that was one, it was very fantastic.

“It is a big award, it’s really nice to be honoured. It is really lovely when you are included. I was really excited.

“I am receiving it because I am the first person with Down’s syndrome winning a lot of awards. It is just really nice that I am receiving something for representing Northern Ireland and that is really lovely.

“I was happy, crying. I did cry my eyes out.

“It was my mum Suzanne who opened the letter first and she handed me the letter. I just smiled and was crying in a nice happy way.

“I was so touched. My mum was crying and my father Ivan. It was a nice, emotional family thing and a nice way to say well done.

“I was just back from the football with my dad and then there was this letter, it was just really lovely.

“I saw my name on it, it was really lovely just to have. I am going to keep this really close to my heart.”

Martin said he wants to continue to inspire people with learning difficulties.

He said: “I am in the Guinness Book of World Records 2024, which I got for Christmas, because I am the first person with Down’s Syndrome to win three awards, the Bafta, Oscar and Ifta in one year.

“There are a lot of things ahead. I am going to be on shows, a lot of people are talking to me.”