Community leader Dr Abdul Bary Malik was today awarded an MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List for services to the ethnic minority community in Bradford.

Mr Malik, 53, of Low Moor, was born in Kenya to Indian parents and has lived in Bradford since 1975.

He said: "I feel very humbled and proud as well.

"Proud as I live in Bradford and because I have had the opportunity to meet so many kind people. Whatever I have done is because of these people.

"For a person who has become a refugee twice in his life it is the greatest honour that can be bestowed on anyone."

Mr Malik has been a magistrate for 20 years and the president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association for 17 years.

In Bradford he has worked variously as a textile mill worker, a bus driver, at the family restaurant, and was the first man to bring frozen curries to the mass market.

In later years he has been a volunteer co-ordinator for Barnardo's in Keighley and worked at Disability Information and Advice Line in Shipley. He was vice-chairman of the Asian Business Forum in the early 90s and a founder member of the Minority Police Liaison Committee.

In 2003 he was awarded a fellowship of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and travelled to Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zanzibar to conduct research into community relations in those countries.

In 2004 he was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Bradford and a year later was given a lifetime achievement award at Bradford Council's community harmony awards.

Leading Bradford businessman Jack Tordoff was also honoured with an MBE for services to business and to sport in Bradford as was Mavis Coggings, an administrative assistant at the cheque processing unit at Shipley's HM Revenue and Customs office.

Mr Tordoff has been synonymous with business for more than half a century.

The self-made millionaire turned his father's garage business into the vast car dealership empire JCT600.

The firm has been built up by Mr Tordoff from his humble beginnings as an apprentice mechanic at his father Edward's small firm. Today it boasts more than 30 dealerships across the country, has an annual turnover of £570 million and employs more than 1,300 people.

He has been featured in the Sunday Times Rich List and is one of the wealthiest men in Yorkshire.

The company is a long-term sponsor and supporter of sport in the city, having sponsored the shirts of Bradford Bulls for more than five years during which time they took the world club title on three occasions.

The company was also sponsor of Bradford City Football Club for nine years, a period which included their glory years in the Premiership. It also sponsors the shirts of the Bradford & Bingley rugby union team and recently signed a five-figure deal to back the Bradford Cricket League.

Mr Tordoff's son John is now the firm's chief executive and the third generation of the family to run the business.

West Yorkshire Police's deputy chief constable, Julia Hodson, has been awarded the Queen's Police Medal for services to policing.

Miss Hodson, 50, has worked in four of the country's largest police forces, including Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Lancashire police forces in her 25 years. She became deputy chief constable of West Yorkshire Police in 2005 and subsequently acting chief constable in 2006, following the retirement of the then chief constable Colin Cramphorn.

Miss Hodson then led the force until the appointment of Sir Norman Bettison in January 2007. She is chairman of the West Yorkshire's Criminal Justice Board.

She said: "This is a great honour, I feel quite humbled when I recall the wonderful people I have worked alongside over the past 25 years.

"I have been privileged to have worked in four great forces with some fantastic people. My ethos has always been to work hard and to put people first, be it colleagues or members of the public. I have spent most of my service as a manager and everything I have achieved, I have achieved with other people."

Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison said: "I am delighted for Julia; the hallmark of her career to date is that she combines very genuine care and concern for people with an ability to manage the most serious of policing challenges. She led the force through some of its most difficult times, including Colin's retirement and sad loss, and earned the respect of many for the strength and compassion she showed throughout."

And Nigel Charlston, senior fire safety manager at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, who lives and works in Birkenshaw, Bradford, has been awarded the Queen's Fire Service Medal.

Mr Charlston has been honoured with the highest award for a serving fire officer. He joined the service in 1975 and has served in Surrey as well as South and West Yorkshire.

He is responsible for legislative fire safety throughout the whole of West Yorkshire and also acts as a fire safety advisor to the Chief Fire Officers' Association.

He said: "I am delighted to be receiving the Queen's Fire Service Medal. This award is recognition not just for me, but for all the people I work with as we continue to provide an excellent fire and rescue service that works in partnership with others to reduce death, injury and economic loss due to fire and other emergencies."

The Queen's Fire Service Medal was introduced in May 1954 and can be given for either meritorious service or bravery.