Actress and TV presenter, Joanna Lumley, who has a home near Thornhill and is patron of the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust in Dumfries, has been made a Dame.
The New Year’s Honour recognises her services to “drama, entertainment and charitable causes”.
She played a key role in raising awareness of the fundraising campaign which helped save and transform the Moat Brae in George Street into Scotland’s Centre for Children’s Literacy through its JM Barrie connections.
As patron she championed Moat Brae at many events, raised awareness, and helped with fundraising ideas.
She officially opened Moat Brae in 2019 and said: “The Peter Pan Moat Brae House fires our imagination and draws us into the world of Neverland.”
In October last year, to help the centre – which has charitable status and has struggled with the Covid lockdowns – she brought together a host of stars from stage and screen for a new fundraising venture to help Dumfries’ Moat Brae and London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital. She gathered the likes of Kit Harrington, Alex Jennings, Alex Kingston, Helen McCrory, Jennifer Saunders, Juliet Stevenson, David Walliams and Zoe Wanamaker, to record a new audio edition of J.M. Barrie’s timeless classic, Peter Pan.
During her career she has been awarded three Baftas and a Bafta Fellowship, awards for Lifetime Achievement from The Golden Rose of Montreux, and Special Recognition by the National Television Awards.
Best known for her role as Purdy – and iconic haircut – in The New Avengers, and as Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous she has starred in many TV programmes from Coronation Street to Sapphire and Steel, had theatre roles in roles on Broadway and the West End.
She has spoken out as a human rights activist for Survival International, Free Tibet and the Gurkha Justice Campaign.
