Annette Weekes, managing director of Nelson-based PDS CNC Engineering Ltd and Burnley-based Tooling Solutions LTD has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours list 2022.

The MBE award for the managing director of the engineering group recognises Ms Weekes’ services to business, community, and leadership but specifically for her services through the pandemic and her contribution in establishing a COVID Manufacturing Cluster for Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Using her industry experience and expertise, Ms Weekes formed the Cluster with Dr. Sherry Kothari of Lancaster University. It was established to support the NHS by helping regional manufacturers repurpose their capacity to address desperate local shortages of medical equipment.

Ms Weekes also played a key role in establishing Holiday Hunger East Lancashire to provide lunches for children across East Lancashire during October half term 2020. Working with other local businesses and hundreds of local volunteers, the group made and distributed 15,000 meals to 3,000 children.

“It’s a privilege and a huge surprise to receive the MBE, a lot of what has been achieved in business and the community wouldn’t have been the case without a fantastic team and people collaborating. The big lesson from the pandemic is about supporting one and other and that we really are all in this together,” said Ms Weeks of PDS CNC Engineering Ltd and Burnley-based Tooling Solutions LTD about the award.

The PDS Engineering group is a precision engineering specialist serving the aerospace and oil and gas industries. It’s best known for its work on the Thrust Supersonic Car, the rebuild of the space frame for Donald Campbell’s Bluebird boat and Lindstrand Balloons on Richard Branson’s ICO global balloon attempts.

Ms Weekes is also a director of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce and sits on the board of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership where she chairs the body’s manufacturing sector group.