Queen's Birthday Honours award Northamptonshire woman CBE for helping communities across the world

A Northamptonshire woman has been named in the Queen's Birthday Honours for her 30 years of service in the public and social sector.
Jane Rintoul (third from the left) at the DFID Zimbabwe office in 2014.Jane Rintoul (third from the left) at the DFID Zimbabwe office in 2014.
Jane Rintoul (third from the left) at the DFID Zimbabwe office in 2014.

Jane Rintoul, 56, from Long Buckby, has been awarded a CBE for a career that has seen her help communities in Zimbabwe, Vietnam and Mozambique.

Ms Rintoul said: "I'm amazed to have been listed. It makes me very humble and delighted at the same time. You never really think of your achievements as being worth an award.

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"The greatest thing is that I've enjoyed every job I've ever had. That's not something you normally get rewarded for but I've loved it all."

In her 30 year career, Ms Rintoul has worked in Whitehall, the former Department of Health and Social Security, Children International, and the Department for International Development office in Zimbabwe.

She has now been honoured for her work with a CBE for contributions to the public sector.

She said: "The most enjoyable years were working overseas for the aid programme and feeling like you were making a real difference in people's lives.

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"I'm very much looking forward to the day, although I don't quite know what to wear and I'm going to have to find a hat. Hopefully, I will get to meet one of the royal family. If I had to pick one, it would be Prince Harry.

"I joined the social sector after university, but only because I didn't know what I wanted to. But I found I loved it. It's been so rewarding to use my talents for the greater good."

Ms Rintoul lives in Long Bucky with her husband and 12-year-old son. She took an early retirement last year and is currently volunteering for a local archaeology group.

Two others Northamptonshire residents, Christopher Alfred Robbins and Dr Robert William Lewis, have been named on the Queen's Birthday Honours, for political and public service and for services to science respectively.