A Barry woman who was awarded an OBE in the 2021 New Year Honours List says she was thrilled and surprised to be recognised.

Sue Husband was born in Cardiff and began working at MacDonald's on Queen Street aged 16.

She worked her way up the company and took on an education role, helping employees gain crucial literacy and numeracy qualifications.

"I'm absolutely chuffed. I cried when I saw the email, with the shock of it. It took me a few minutes to read it again and make sure it was genuine," said Sue.

"The hardest bit was trying to keep it quiet from everyone, but since I've been able to tell people have said lovely things, it's really special for my parents.

"I actually found out my next-door-neighbour also holds an OBE, for services to entertainment after his work with Barry Island funfair!"

Sue now works at Business in the Community, a Prince's Trust Charity, where she runs the Welsh branch.

"Before that I had been working in Westminster, and then I decided it was time to come home and do something good in Wales," said Sue.

"We help businesses to behave in a responsible manner, which involves the things I'm passionate about like getting young people with good skills and to have good jobs, but also to help businesses be more responsible for the environment and do more things in the community.

"Businesses now have really changed their outlook seeing the potential in people they wouldn't traditionally hire.

"It's about your qualities not your qualifications. For example, people who cannot read might be very resilient because they have worked ways around it, even with life being more challenging. With qualifications, they're a confidence boost, it makes people realise they're not stupid.

Sue comes from a farming family that taught her to work hard, and feels lucky to have that background.

"I think starting in MacDonald's and working with people who hadn't had the start I did, was a real eyeopener, that I was lucky to have a stable upbringing and was well-loved," she said.

Sue recalls her parents questioning if working at MacDonald's was what she really wanted to do – but by 22 she was running the Cardiff Queen Street branch,

"I spent my first 27 years working for MacDonald's, which isn't where you expect somebody to come from having been recognised for education," said Sue.

"I worked in loads of different roles for them, working my way slowly up the company.

"Over the years I progressed and got offered a job to help educate staff, because MacDonald's employed lots of young people who aren't sure about the direction for the rest of their life and where they want to be working.

"A lot of them, about half when I worked there, didn't have good GCSEs leaving school. One of my tasks while I was there was to help people get qualifications in literacy and numeracy.

"Through MacDonald's I helped 50,000 people, which sounds like a huge amount but we employed about 100,000," she said.

Sue left MacDonald's to become a senior civil servant in the Department for Education, and also took young people to represent the UK in World Skills, and event she described as the 'Olympics of skills'.

"If you help people help themselves, they can go onto brilliant things," said Sue.

"So, it's lovely to get this recognition but really, it's about those people that make you want to do it every day."