We are thrilled to share that W. Frank G. Strang (1979) was awarded an MBE in the recent New Year Honours List.

Born in Glasgow, Frank went on to study French and German at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He joined the Civil Service immediately thereafter, where he spent thirteen years on agriculture and fisheries matters, including four as agriculture attaché in Paris and two as Principal Private Secretary to the Minister.

He returned to Scotland in 1997 and worked on a variety of portfolios, in particular fisheries, primary care and as head of the Europe Division from 2016 to his retirement in 2025. He was the Scottish Government's first faith and belief champion, and has chaired the Solas Festival in Perthshire for the last six years.

Frank is also an honorary fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a Chevalier de l’Ordre de Merite Agricole.

Speaking of his recent award, Frank says:

“To be honest, I am pretty bowled over by the MBE. I'm particularly pleased that, according to the citation, it's about both intercultural dialogue – i.e. the work we have been doing to nurture good relations with European countries post Brexit – and interfaith relations, in particular what we have done to maintain open dialogue in the context of the events in the Middle East over recent years. This not only recognises what the teams have been doing but says that the task is important – it seems to me that, in these turbulent times, we need such dialogue more than ever!

My other thought is for all of the real heroes out there – those who look after elderly relatives; who adopt or foster; who go the extra mile for their community; or who turn up even when depressed themselves. There will be very many Lorettonians in those categories. Who is up for a new set of honours for them? Perhaps ‘GUSH’ - Glory to the Unsung Hero?!”