New Year's Honours List 2022: Here is everyone in Brighton and Hove who received an honour

Five residents of the city were named on the annual list, which recognises the achievements and services of extraordinary people across the UK.

Roger Cohen and Zimran Samuel were made Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

66-year-old Roger Cohen is the lifeboat operations manager at Brighton and Newhaven Lifeboat Station. He was awarded an MBE For his services to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and charity.

For 39 years, the Newhaven local has strived to make the RNLI more inclusive and progressive.

Under his leadership, Brighton became the first station to take part in a Pride Parade and became the first LGBT+ accredited station in the RNLI

He joined Brighton in 1982, serving as crew and helm for 18 years, and in the same position at Tower in London for 13 years (where he completed 327 shifts and 149 service calls), before taking on the additional role of launch authority at Brighton, a position he still holds today.

During his long standing service at these stations, Roger was directly involved in 2,260 lifeboat launches resulting in 248 lives saved to date.

He said on receiving the MBE: “I was overwhelmed and humbled when I first heard the news. I saw the white envelope on the dining room table marked ‘Urgent, Personal, Cabinet Office’ and you wonder what it is, but when I opened it, it was a very good surprise.”

Zimran Samuel, a 36-year-old human rights barrister from Brighton, was awarded an MBE for his services to victims of domestic abuse.

Zimran said: “This is not something I knew that anyone had put me forward for or had been recommended for. So it was a massive surprise for me.

“When I saw the envelope in the post which was from the government I immediately thought it must be an unpaid parking fee or something like that.

“But it was nice to get something positive, even now that it's been formally announced, I look at the people that have been announced from Sussex that have got MBEs and I feel a bit of a fraud. When you look at the calibre of people, I'm humbled to be in such amazing company.”

Following the increase in domestic abuse cases that occurred during the pandemic, Zimran started taking pro bono cases of domestic abuse and violence for the remainder of the lockdown and post pandemic period.

He provided all this help to the abuse victims remotely, which meant he was able to take on cases regardless of the geographical distances between the courts.

Zimran added: “It’s been an extremely difficult two years, many people that have been working at the Bar have been working under the radar, keeping the child protection and the family system going.

“This is the only job I've ever done and it's the only skill I have. At the time there was domestic abuse and domestic violence going up in the UK at breakneck speed. I think there was a 49% increase in the first three weeks alone. So there was an obvious need and I started to help with occasional cases pro bono.

“After I saw the extent of the problems that were happening behind closed doors, I decided to set up a scheme to do that work day in and day out systematically from April 10 onwards.

I had a pretty straightforward criteria, If i had capacity to assist and you were someone that was facing genuine domestic abuse or violence and you had not been able to get legal aid, then I would be able to help.

“I'm lucky to do the work that I love, it's always something ive relished, everyday I get up and I look forward to the next case.”

Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings was also awarded an MBE, for her services to people with disabilities in the arts.

Davinder Singh Dhillon, chair of The Chattri Memorial Group and Hove resident, was awarded an Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the commemoration of Indian Forces' contribution in the First World War.

British trade union leader Sally Collette Hunt was also awarded an OBE for her services to industrial relations.

Zimran Samuel works closely with Advocate, a charity that finds free legal assistance from volunteer barristers, to seek help or to find out more information about the work they do click here

There is also the domestic abuse helpline, which is open 24 hours a day and can be found here

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