MBE honour for Bexhill resident Malcolm

Malcolm Pratt has been town clerk of Winchelsea since 1984. He is the author of two books on the Cinque Port.

He was accompanied by his wife Bridget when he received the MBE “for services to the community in Winchelsea and to Heritage in East Sussex.”

The award was announced in June in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

The service recognised in the award included his time as clerk and treasurer of Icklesham Parish Council and through that office to Winchelsea Ward from 1962 until 1989 and his time as town Ccerk of Winchelsea from 1984 until the present day.

His research into the history of Winchelsea resulted in the writing and publication of two books about the town. Winchelsea – A Port Of Stranded Pride was published in 1998. Winchelsea – The Tale Of A Medieval Town followed in 2005.

Mr Pratt, of Downlands Avenue, has sorted, listed and transferred the archives of St Thomas’s School, St Thomas’s Church and the Winchelsea Corporation to East Sussex Record Office for permanent safe-keeping.

Since 2003 he has been a council member of the Sussex Record Society for whom he is currently preparing a volume about poverty in Winchelsea in the early 19th Century.

He has been president of the Sussex Badminton Association.

His voluntary work for the communities he serves began during his career as a schoolmaster in four different schools in East Sussex, including the former Down County Secondary School for Boys in Bexhill.

RIGHT: Malcolm Pratt at Buckingham Palace with his wife, Bridget