THE New Year Honours list is littered with famous faces each year.

No doubt our sporting heroes and favourite TV stars deserve praise, but it is people like Dovercourt’s Les Nicholl who are most deserving of recognition.

Mr Nicholl’s 50 years service with Essex Fire and Rescue Service, most recently his work as a community builder, would be enough to receive a British Empire Medal from the Queen in itself.

Add to that his work with North Essex Support Team, Harwich Foodbank, his Christmas hampers and the Winter Warmers scheme and there aren’t many out there more deserving.

His reaction to the honour is also a measure of the man.

Mr Nicholl’s surprise and embarrassment show even in receiving a personal gong he is still thinking of others and he knows he couldn’t have achieved as much on his own.

So congratulations to the likes of Ben Stokes, Olivia Newton John and Sam Mendes - but a bigger congratulations to the likes of Mr Nicholl. As we head into the new year and contemplate our resolutions, it would be good if we all took a leaf out of his book and put others first in 2020.