RENOWNED Bridge of Allan glassmaker Tom Young has been awarded an MBE in the Queen's New Year Honours list.

The co-founder of local family firm Angels' Share Glass was shocked and delighted to receive the award, which marks his long service to the glassmaking industry.

Mr Young, 79, said: “I'm overwhelmed, humbled and very grateful for this award, which I never expected to receive and had no idea I had been nominated for.

“Glassmaking is my passion in life and is something I’ve done and enjoyed doing for the past 60 years.

“I’ve been lucky enough to make a career doing something I love and I’m pleased to be able to continue to work and to have passed my love of glass on to my family especially my daughter Karen.

“Glassmaking is a great Scottish creative industry and I’m still training apprentices who will help keep the tradition alive for many years to come.”

In a long career, Mr Young was one of the first two Scots to be named master craftsman by the British Society of Scientific Glassblowers in 1977 and was a founding member of the Scottish Glass Society.

In one of the citations which led to Mr Young’s MBE, fellow glassblower Paul Henny wrote: “Tom has always been very innovative and is continually looking at new glass products – one of the most recent being the Angels’ Share, a glass angel, containing 25ml of Malt Whisky.

“Although Tom is now `semi-retired’, he is still at the forefront of a thriving glass business producing innovative designs and employing and range of people with a variety of skills including marketing, administration and, more importantly, glassblowing.”

His daughter, Karen, added: “The whole family is so proud of dad’s award and being honoured with an MBE is an amazing achievement.

“We’ve always known how special and talented he is and it’s wonderful to have that reflected in this prestigious honour.”