Mid Sussex former pilot ‘surprised and delighted’ at Queen’s New Year honour

Malcolm Burwood, 79, from Danehill, has been awarded the BEM in the New Year Honours.

He said the award - for services to the community - had come as a complete surprise to him. “I knew nothing about it. It’s very exciting,” he said.

Malcolm, a former RAF pilot, went on to work as a commercial airline captain for Dan Air and British Airways before retirement.

His community work was launched in earnest during the Great Storm of 1987 when he and his wife Rosemary opened their home to the village for use of their gas heated hot water and cooker after everyone was left without power.

“We were the only ones who had an Aga,” said Malcolm. “No one else could have a bath or cook a stew.

“People would come round with a casserole, put it in the oven and have a hot bath.”

Another example of Malcolm’s community work was his efforts to reorganise and make liveable Rose Cottage, the home of a local elderly woman, to enable her to be discharged from hospital.

He continued looking after her in the years after her return home, culminating in her leaving the cottage to the local church on her death.

Malcolm also takes the lead in many much-appreciated social events within the village, including weekly breakfasts and bridge clubs, annual Burns Nights, the biennial Ashdown Weekend events, and celebrations marking the Diamond Jubilee and the Millennium.

For the latter, he took the lead in the establishment of a time capsule and a monument to mark where the Greenwich Meridian passes through the village.

The Danehill Memorial Hall was short of funding and on the verge of collapse, but since taking over the management in 2018 as chairman of the management committee, Malcolm has campaigned tirelessly to raise money for the upkeep and renovation of the hall.

As well as providing the funds for its upkeep, he takes a hands-on approach to the maintenance of the hall, acting as its volunteer caretaker and personally carrying out routine repairs and maintenance free of charge.

For some years he has and continues to organise coach trips to visit war commemoration sites in France and Belgium, including battlefields, war graves and memorials, the most recent of which was to Normandy and the D-Day landing sites.

Malcolm, who has two children - Emma and Ben - and six grandchildren, said he planned to celebrate his award with his wife and friends ‘in the pub.’

“I’m going to have a hacksaw and pair of scissors with me,” he joked, “so that my wife can have half.”