New Year honours: Soldier and NZ Idol judge receive awards

Trooper Phillip Cheater believes he was just doing his job when he risked his life trying to help fallen comrade Private Leonard Manning.

Trooper Cheater, a member of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, has been given the Gallantry Decoration for his actions in East Timor on July 24, 2000, when a New Zealand patrol was ambushed.

His father, Murray Cheater, said his 25-year-old son would accept the award "with a shrug of the shoulders".

"He'll say, 'That's very nice and life goes on'," Mr Cheater said. * In tomorrow's Weekend Herald read for the first time the stories of Trooper Cheater and the other men on patrol with Private Manning.

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He may be known to teenagers as the judge of NZ Idol, but Frankie Stevens has been honoured for a career in entertainment stretching back to when their parents were young.

Stevens, 54, has been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit after spending around three decades in television, film and on stage.

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Bob Kerridge has devoted a large part of his adult life to the welfare of others but was still surprised to get the nod in the New Year Honours because those "others" are animals.

"Animal welfare is a bit down the scale in most people's minds when it comes to this type of thing," said the long-time Auckland SPCA chief executive. "So I think it's nice it's been recognised and it reflects well on everyone else out there who is doing this."

Kerridge has been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

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Fashion designer Liz Mitchell has been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to the fashion industry.

This time two years ago Mitchell was battling breast cancer.

"Things can happen that can be very challenging and I would never have thought I could achieve what I did in the next two years," Mitchell said yesterday.

Among the highlights have been shows at New Zealand Fashion Week and watching Keisha Castle-Hughes walk down the red carpet at the Oscars in one of her designs