Sgt Paul Cording on his career – and his future beyond the policeHarrogate police officer runs 24-hour triple marathon for charityHonour for Harrogate’s fundraising traffic officer

Sergeant Paul Cording is delighted yet slightly baffled to have been recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours list.

The roads policing officer, who is based in Harrogate, has received a British Empire Medal for services to policing.

He told the Stray Ferret:

“It’s a bit bonkers.

“I’m just doing my job and none of us in the emergency services do anything for recognition. We joined because we want to make a difference.”

He has known about the award for around a month, having received a letter “on His Majesty’s service”. Sgt Cording said:

“My wife was working at home and was on some sort of probably very important Teams call and I was just standing with this letter in my hand, shaking.”

After his wife ended the call, Sgt Cording said “it got a bit emotional” as he told her what the letter contained.

Until last night, she was the only person he had told about the award, for which he was nominated by the chief constable’s office.

Sgt Cording has been with North Yorkshire Police since the start of his career in 2001, moving into roads policing in 2010.

Leading a team of roads policing officers, he has become well-known for tweeting from the scene of collisions and sharing results from arrests.

He views that work as part of his role, saying:

“I do the easy bit and share results. I’m very lucky to have a lot of people following and supporting us on social media.

“It definitely humanises what we do and takes away that image of traffic cops hiding behind a bush with a speed camera.”

Sgt Cording and his team also feature regularly on Channel 5’s Traffic Cops, filmed across the region.

Agreeing to be on national TV was a step up from being on Twitter, but soon became second nature – and he believes has been another positive move in humanising the police. He said:

“I was a bit worried to start with, but it becomes normal. It’s a cliche, but you forget the cameras are there.

“There’s the odd person who will play up to the camera, but the majority of people, if they’ve done something wrong, the last thing they want to do is look an idiot on national telly. The majority behave as I would expect.”

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Sgt Cording’s BEM is not just for his professional service to North Yorkshire Police, however.

It also recognises his charity work: the many challenges he has taken on to raise money for road safety organisations and other good causes.

He has completed the Marathon des Sables, the Great North Run, and other half-marathons over the last 15 years.

Earlier this year, Sgt Cording decided to cover 325km in just a week reflecting the 325 people killed or seriously injured on the roads of North Yorkshire in 2021.

It is the most recent in a string of fundraisers for charities including RoadPeace, Brake and Road Safety Talks, run by Lauren Doherty, who was left paralysed after being hit by a car while walking home when she was just a teenager.

She now shares her story with school children, emphasising the need to be careful at all times and describing the impact of her decision to cross a road at the wrong moment – not just on her, but on everyone around her.

Motivation

Lauren helped to put together the nomination for Sgt Cording’s BEM, along with other people he has worked closely with over recent years.

He says supporting charities like Lauren’s is a continuation of the work he and his team do every day:

“I get my drive from doing my bit for families at their lowest ebb. In this role, I’m not always dealing with drunken idiots. I get to see people who need support because their world has just fallen apart.

“That dovetails nicely into the charity side of things. We deal with the front end of the collision. These people whose lives have just been shattered need support going forward too.”

There are personal reasons for some of his fundraising as well.

Over the last five years, four officers in North Yorkshire Police have taken their own lives, including Mick “Aky” Atkinson. Sgt Cording has been a regular participant in the Tour de Aky cycle ride in his memory

Sgt Cording recognises the challenges police officers can have in dealing with some of the harrowing scenes they face at work.

For him, as well as raising money, exercise is a way to maintain good mental health, getting out into nature and taking time away from his day job and his social media account.

There will be no getting away from the many messages he’ll be receiving today though, after the honours list was published last night.

On shift from 7am, he’s expecting to be providing the cakes for the team to mark the occasion. A date at Buckingham Palace awaits in the coming weeks.

Until then, it’s business as usual.

Knighthood among King’s honours for Harrogate district residents

A Harrogate man has been knighted in the King’s Birthday Honours List.

Dr Richard John Mantle, general director of Leeds-based Opera North, has been recognised for his services to opera.

He was made an OBE 10 years ago in the late Queen’s Birthday Honours, for services to music, and has served as a deputy lord lieutenant in West Yorkshire since 2012.

Dr Mantle sits on the board of the National Opera Studio, as well as being a member of the advisory council of the music department of York University, a fellow of Leeds College of Music and a fellow of the Royal College of Arts.

He announced last year that he intends to retire from his role with Opera North at the end of 2023, after being involved with it since 1994.

At the time, Dr Mantle – now Sir Richard Mantle – said:

“I have led Opera North for almost 30 years, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have held one of the best opera jobs in the UK and further afield, and to have worked with so many talented, valued and inspiring colleagues.

“It has been a hugely fulfilling experience.”

Opera North’s chair of trustees Paul Lee said:

“All of us who have worked with Richard over the years will feel a profound sense of gratitude for his immense service to the company’s staff and the countless guest artists whose careers Opera North has done so much to nurture and develop, and, above all, audiences and communities throughout the North and beyond.”

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Also on the first birthday honours list of King Charles III is Ripon man Dr Peter Liddle, who is made an OBE for services to heritage and public understanding of the world wars.

A military historian, Dr Liddle founded the University of Leeds’s Liddle Collection, an archive of first-hand accounts of people who lived through either of the world wars.

He is also patron of the Halifax Great War Heritage Society and life president of the Second World War Experience Centre.

Harrogate resident Susan Soroczan is also made an OBE for public service in her role as group director at the Department for Work and Pensions.

The leader of Northern Star Academies Trust, which includes Harrogate High School, has been made an OBE for services to education.

Jennifer Spencer-Plews is chief executive of the trust, which also includes Hookstone Chase, New Park, Starbeck and Willow Tree primary schools in Harrogate among its members.

Ripon Farm Services managing director Geoff Brown, pictured above, is made an MBE for services to the rural economy in the list, published this evening.

There is also one recipient of the British Empire Medal from the Harrogate district.

Sgt Paul Cording of North Yorkshire Police has been recognised for his service as a police officer as well as his charity work.

Speaking to the Stray Ferret, he described the recognition as “bonkers”, as well as “humbling”.

See the Stray Ferret tomorrow morning for a full interview with Sgt Cording.