[Media] BritCham Chairman Knighted in the Philippines – My Hometown Newspaper Covers the Story
There is something quietly special about seeing your hometown newspaper cover a chapter of your life that began 20 years and 9,000 kilometres away from where you grew up.
I left Hexham, Northumberland at 20 years old, AAT qualification in hand, not much else in my pocket, heading to China on what was supposed to be a gap year. I never really left. Two decades on, I am still here, still building, still learning. But Hexham is always home, and it always will be, it is where my heart is and I will return one day.
So, when the Hexham Courant ran the story of my investiture as a Knight Officer of the Order of the Knights of Rizal, I felt a particular kind of pride. Not the grand, public kind; the quiet kind. The kind that comes from knowing that the people and the place that shaped you are watching, and that they think you’ve done something worth noticing.
The Courant reported that I was given the title of Knight Officer (KOR) by the Order of the Knights of Rizal in a ceremony in Manila on February 9, and noted that the Order, established in 1911, is the only order of knighthood in the Philippines, honouring people who embody the principles of Dr José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines. Hexham Courant
The full story behind the knighthood, what it represents, the work it recognises, and what it means to me personally, is told in my dedicated post here: Knighted as Knight Officer of the Order of the Knights of Rizal →
But this post is really about something smaller and more personal. It’s about a boy from Hexham who backed himself, took a leap, and built a life he’s proud of. And about the fact that the Hexham Courant, the paper that covered his school, his town, his community, thought that life was worth publishing.
To everyone back home in Hexham and Northumberland: thank you for following along. I love you all.
🔗 Read the original article in the Hexham Courant 🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn
Mark Clayton FCMA CGMA CPA KOR — Group CFO, C2W Group | Chairman, British Chamber of Commerce South China | Proud Hexham lad
