Two local people have made the King's New Years Honours list.

A Paralympic gold medal winning swimmer and local businesswoman are among those to have made the cut.

The list recognises the achievements and service of extraordinary people across the United Kingdom.

Katherine Darlington, founder and CEO at The Scott Partnership Ltd, a global B2B marketing and PR business based in Holmes Chapel, has been awarded an MBE for her services to business growth and International trade.

Katherine's 'Linked In' profile describes her as an experienced board director and entrepreneur, with wide experience building, growing, acquiring, managing and nurturing businesses, globally, working internationally with teams in Europe, Asia and North America.

She specialises in leading organisations which outperform the market, helping businesses to succeed, helping them to define their target audiences, build their profiles, generate leads and ultimately grow.

Meanwhile paralympic gold medal winning local swimmer, Poppy Maskill, who was given Freedom of Middlewich at a ceremony in the town where she originally hailed from as we revealed here, has been awarded an MBE for services to swimming.

Poppy Maskill with her former coach Phil Balcombe. (Photo: Phil Balcombe)

The medal winning Poppy, originally from Middlewich, won three golds and two silver medals at the Paris games earlier this year but her talents were spotted years ago when she started swimming in Alsager. 

Poppy's former coach, Phil Balcombe, said: "It's recognition for all the hard work Poppy has put in over the last 10 years." 

Phil coached Poppy from mid-2015 when she was just 10 years old until March 2023 when she was 18 and already a world champion as we revealed here . Poppy trained with Alsager Swimming Club, based at Alsager Leisure Centre, for many years.

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