NEW Year brought a very ’happy surprise’ for West Somerset-born Professor Helen Davis, who has been awarded an OBE for ’Services to Orthoptics’.

"It came as a complete shock - I wasn’t expecting anything like this," Professor Davis told the Free Press on receiving news of her award.

Professor Davis, 63, who went to Minehead Lower School and then to the Upper School - as they were known then - was born in Alcombe, near Minehead.

After school she moved to Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital to do her Diploma in Orthoptics and from there to Manchester Royal Hospital to take a teaching qualification, and subsequently became a tutor of students.

A move to the University of Sheffield saw Professor Davis start and develop a degree programme in Orthoptics.

Her career has spanned 45 years and her dedication to research, clinical trials and testing has provided life-changing treatment to adults and children worldwide.

Detecting misalignment and diseases, to treating and correcting debilitating ocular conditions, Professor Davis’s dedication and definitive work has given people a new lease of life and prevented serious degenerative problems.

Four years ago she became chairman of the British and Irish Orthoptic Society and Education and Professional Development Committee. Her book, published in 2014, ’The Diagnosis and Management of Ocular Mobility Disorders’ is a definitive authority on the subject.

Professor Davis and her proud father Alan, sister Jane and family, who are dotted around the country - from Fulwood in Sheffield to Jersey to Alcombe - are looking forward to celebrating together when she receives her honour.

A colleague said: "This is a very well deserved honour for the Davis family and all those who know and respect Helen for all that she has done for so many."