Queen's honour for youth campaigner

NEIL Wragg has been given an MBE for his work with a Royston-based charity.

Mr Wragg, of Haywood's Lane, Royston, received the title in the Queen's birthday honours list, announced last Saturday.

He is chief executive of Youth at Risk, an international charity based in Abbots Yard, Royston. They help young people in difficult situations in this country and abroad.

"It is a great honour and came as a total surprise. It's really an award that recognises the great work done by everyone at Youth at Risk," he said.

Mr Wragg first came across Youth at Risk in 1992, while working for Enfield borough council.

"Enfield were the first local authority to become a partner of Youth at Risk, and I was involved in setting up the relationship," he said.

He took his current position of chief executive in 1994, and over that time has seen the charity flourish.

"When I started we were helping 400 - 500 young people, and now we're up to nearly 7,000," he said.

"The most high profile project we've done in this country was in Birmingham, when we worked with a ballet company and got a lot of young people involved in dancing. It was featured in a programme for Channel 4."

Youth at Risk were also instrumental in helping find work for young Serbs and Albanians living in Kosovo, following the troubles in the region.

As a result of his work, Mr Wragg was appointed to the Camelot Foundation's board of trustees. He is also a member of the government crime reduction panel.

He said: "The Camelot foundation was set up to distribute £20million to charities and organisations working with young people in the UK.

"One of the projects we funded was a study into self-harm, which was presented to the government."

Mr Wragg lives in Royston with his wife, Anne, who runs children's clothes shop Angels and Rascals.

They have two children, Jessica and Christopher.