TWO of the area's sporting heroes have been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Redditch-born Gold medal winning paralympian Claire Cashmore has got an MBE for services to swimming.

Claire, a student at Northumbria University, has been competing for Great Britain for 12 years.

She made her debut for Paralympics GB as a 16-year-old competing at Athens in 2004.

Since then she has won medals at every level of competition, including six Paralympic medals across three Games.

The champion swimmer, who clinched silver and gold at this summer’s Rio Games, spoke of her delight at finding out the news.

"I was completely taken aback and I really did not expect it at all," she said.

“They had been trying to get in touch with me and sent a letter to my old house. I then got an email which said they needed to speak to me urgently and I thought, ‘oh my god. What have I done wrong?’

“But when I spoke to them, they asked if I would be willing to accept the MBE and I said yes.

"This was at the beginning of December and I had to keep it quiet for a whole month, which was hard."

She added: "It has completely topped the year off for me."

Alcester's Olympic gold medallist Nick Skelton also ended the year on a high being elevated from Officer to Commander of the British Empire (CBE).

Nick, recognised in the honours list with an OBE in 2012, was awarded the accolade for services to equestrian sport.

Last month the show jumper galloped his way to third place in the 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards.

At a live show in the Genting Arena in Birmingham, he pipped superstar athlete Mo Farah to third place but was scuppered by triathlete Alistair Brownlee, who came second, and tennis champion Andy Murray who scooped the title for a third time.

The 58-year-old also recently made it into the history books after becoming Great Britain’s oldest Olympic champion since 1908.

He initially retired 16 years ago after breaking his neck in two places.