The BDA is very pleased to announce that their Joint Chair Trustee Margaret Malpas has today been awarded an MBE.

The BDA is very pleased to announce that their Joint Chair Trustee Margaret Malpas has today been awarded an MBE.

Margaret, with her husband Jim, was asked to help the BDA when it was facing a serious threat in 2006. Over the last ten years, they have worked strenuously with the staff to bring the Charity into good financial health. Using their expertise from growing a successful professional education company, they developed the embryonic training service into one which has now trained tens of thousands of teachers, lecturers and employers in how to support those with dyslexia. Margaret is particularly proud of some specific initiatives which are making a real difference to the lives of dyslexic children and adults. She conceived of the idea of group teaching for children on a carousel basis which enables them to get specialist support at only £8 per hour. The BDA is just supporting the opening of its sixth Children Will Shine group, this time located in Bracknell. She retrained as a specialist dyslexia teacher for adults and in 2012 began work to create the Dyslexia Adult Network (DAN). Four years on and DAN is now operating as a collaboration of all the charities dealing with adult issues and actively campaigning with Government to secure improvements in services for adults with dyslexia and related conditions. More recently, Margaret has been researching the characteristics of successful adults with dyslexia and how those attributes can be developed in others.

Dr. Kate Saunders, British Dyslexia Association CEO, said: “We are delighted with this award. Margaret has done outstanding work in this field, over many years. She has used her considerable expertise, experience and professional skills to start up and develop a number of key initiatives for the benefit of many thousands of dyslexic individuals, working extremely hard and on a voluntary basis. This selfless service to assist dyslexic children and adults reflects the very best of the human spirit for empathy, understanding, compassion and positive social entrepreneurship."

The British Dyslexia Association is deeply grateful to Margaret Malpas and her husband, Jim Malpas, Joint Chairs of the BDA, for their many years of dedicated service. It has been a privilege to work with them.