DANCER Doreen France, who has taught thousands of youngsters in Huddersfield, was today given an MBE in the New Year Honours List.

Her name is joined by Calderdale councillor Mrs Emma Hions (MBE), Deighton police constable Dick Coldwell (Queen's Police Medal) and Roy Clarke (OBE), the man who pens record-breaking Holme Valley comedy Last of the Summer Wine.

Doreen, of Blackmoorfoot Road, Crosland Moor, receives the MBE for services to the community, especially in the performing arts.

She still teaches and performs despite having three hip replacement operations.

She said: "I am very excited and thrilled by the news.

"I accept this on behalf of all my colleagues and friends in Huddersfield and West Yorkshire and for all the people who have helped me raise so much money for charity since my teens."

Doreen was nominated by Richard Hey, of the Huddersfield Light Opera Company, Peter Armitage, of Marsden Operatic Society, and former pupils Sue Gledhill, Wendy Taylor and Linda Jakes.

Born in Slaithwaite, Doreen was taught to dance by Nora Bray who danced with Roy Castle.

She opened her first school at the age of 15.

She has taught thousands of pupils to dance for pleasure for 45 years, shunning exams, and raised tens of thousands for charity.

She stopped running a dance school 13 years ago after her first hip replacement but still ran a tap dancing class and the Doreen France Dancers.

Doreen's husband Bill died three years ago.

As well as choreographing the Pocahontas panto for Marsden Opera Society, she is appearing in her annual concert Doreen France and Friends at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, in January.

Her concert last year raised more than £4,000.

She is also performing in Oliver at the Bradford Alhambra in February then at the Lawrence Batley Theatre with the Huddersfield Light Opera Company in April.

* Mrs Emma Hions gets the MBE for services to local government and the community.

She joined the Labour party aged 14 and was a Brighouse councillor for 19 years.

She has been a Calderdale councillor since it was made a metropolitan district in 1974.

Born in Brighouse, Mrs Hions now lives in Carr Green Drive, Rastrick.

She said: "It has come as a big surprise.

"I feel that this award is for all the people I represent in Brighouse."

Her husband Stanley died 14 years ago. She has a son and two grandchildren.

* Pc Dick Coldwell, a community constable in Deighton and Fartown, receives the Queen's Police Medal.

Pc Coldwell, 43, who is now based at Fartown High School, has spent a lot of time working with "hard to reach" young people in Huddersfield.

A policeman since 1981, he spent many years working in Bradley and Brackenhall. He is married with two children.

He said: "It is a fantastic honour to be recognised and to receive such an award as this. I very much enjoy the job and am pleased to have been accepted by the young people I work with."

* Last of the Summer Wine writer Roy Clarke has written every episode of the world's longest-running comedy series for almost 30 years.

He wrote the pilot for the show in 1972 with no inkling that it would last nearly as long.

* Former Huddersfield cyclist Yvonne McGregor, who won a bronze medal in the Sydney Olympics, receives an MBE.

Yvonne began cycling for the Huddersfield Star Wheelers in 1991 when she was trying to overcome a running injury.

* Kevin Brian Patrick Arbuthnot, of Dewsbury, the West Yorkshire deputy chief fire officer, receives the Queen's Fire Service Medal.

* Mrs Jayne Barnes, a director of nursing at NHS Direct, West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service, receives a CBE for services to health care.