Otley-born doctor gets the MBE (From Wharfedale Observer)

Otley-born doctor gets the MBE

8:32am Thursday 3rd January 2013 in Local news

A former Otley schoolboy has been awarded an MBE for his work in medicine.

Dr Andrew George Wardman, a consultant physician and director of medical education at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, was born in the town and educated at Prince Henry’s Grammar School.

The 60-year-old, who went on after school to study at Edinburgh University and now specialises in respiratory and acute medicine, was included in the 2013 New Year Honours List for his services to hospital medicine and medical education. He said: “We were up in Scotland when it was announced and I am very pleased to get this award, which was a complete surprise.

“I was brought up in Otley and all my schooling was there and I have very fond memories of Prince Henry’s, Westgate Primary and the town.

“Like lots of schoolkids, I hummed and hawed about what I was going to do before I chose medicine but I have to say I made the right choice because I very much enjoy the profession.

“I left Otley when I was 18 to go to university and haven’t lived there since, but I still go back from time to time.

“My family was in the town for several generations and, though we’ve now dispersed, we’re still very attached to the place.”

His father, Ernest, said: “I’m very proud of him and wanted people in Otley to know, as that’s where he was born and went to school.

“I’m an Otley man too, though I’ve lived in Melrose, on the Scottish Borders, since retiring.”

Dr Wardman was appointed as a consultant in 1988 and now lives in Heaton, Bolton.