Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody receives OBE for services to music and charity

Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody has been awarded his OBE for services to music and charity in Northern Ireland.

Lightbody helped establish the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast which supports aspiring musicians, while his foundation helps charities dealing with mental health, depression and youth engagement.

Speaking after the ceremony at Windsor Castle, Lightbody said, "It went really well, Prince Charles, His Royal Highness, was very kind and asked me about my music and my writing."

It was announced the Bangor man would be given an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours list in 2019.

The announcement of the award came after Lightbody revealed his father Jack had passed away just days before Christmas.The singer-songwriter from Bangor recently fronted a performance by the band at a fundraising concert for Ukraine that raised £12.2million for the humanitarian effort in the war-torn nation.

A number of other famous faces also received honours at the ceremony.

They include national treasure Sir David Attenborough who was been awarded his Knight Grand Cross honour from fellow avid environmentalist the Prince of Wales.

Actor Toby Jones, who collected his OBE for services to drama, said: "Theatre needs a lot of support to come out from the pandemic - it is one of the areas of culture that has been most hit and it is going to need a lot of imagination on the part of Government to realise the creative contribution, the health contribution, mental health contribution that theatre, along with all the other arts, provides."

Spy chief Sir Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ, was also due to receive his knighthood after he was made Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for services to national security.

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