THE founder of an Ardrossan-based charity has been made an MBE in the New Year honours list.

Alan Bell receives the award for his services to vulnerable people with his chairty The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety (ScotCPS), which operates at the Barony Centre in Ardrossan.

Reacting to the news that he was being awarded an MBE, Alan commented: “I am thrilled and in a state of disbelief at my inclusion in the New Year’s Honours List.

"It is really amazing and I am so deeply honoured to have my work with vulnerable people recognised by the UK Government and the new King.

"Thank you to everyone who nominated me.”

Alan set up a not-for-profit social enterprise 25 years ago, running ‘personal safety courses for women’ using self defence techniques he had learned both in the military and as a close protection officer (bodyguard).

Initially Alan worked in London with officers from the Metropolitan Police, before moving north and offering his training to several of Scotland's Women’s Aid centres and advocacy services for female victims of violence in Scotland.

By 2002, Alan had developed personal safety courses for school pupils, running free-of-charge training to every secondary school in Ross-shire and parts of Sutherland.

And in 2013, Alan’s social enterprise became the registered charity ‘The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety’.

It was in 2016, that Alan had moved his charity to the former Barony St John’s church hall building in Ardrossan’s Princes Street.

Since then, Alan has used his skills to develop empowering personal safety courses for sensory impaired people, for people with learning disabilities, for people from LGBTI communities, and ethnic minority backgrounds.

Alan has continued to devote all of his time to his charitable work, running the charity's Barony St John Centre, developing bespoke personal safety courses, and training volunteer instructors, some of whom are blind, deafblind or hearing impaired themselves.

His charity was honoured with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2020 and he himself was honoured with a British Citizen Award in 2021 for his services to education.

The MBE completes a hat-trick of honours for Alan has in 2022 - including a Platinum Champion Award for “his outstanding contribution as a volunteer” and being chosen as one of North Ayrshire Council’s “70 Stories: celebrating North Ayrshire’s unsung heroes”.

This latter project, which celebrates the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, aims to showcase 70 people in North Ayrshire from a population of over 134,000 who have willingly given up a huge amount of their time to help or improve their local community.

The MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) award was established by King George V on June 4, 1917.

It rewards contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service.