Former Lord Mayor 'proud' to receive knighthood from Queen (From Times Series)

Former Lord Mayor Michael Bear 'proud' to receive knighthood from Queen

2:50pm Wednesday 4th January 2012 in News By Natalie O'Neill

Sir Michael Bear

THE former Lord Mayor Michael Bear celebrated with friends and family after being knighted by the Queen.

Sir Michael, who lives in Finchley, received the knighthood in the New Year Honours list for services to regeneration, charity and the City of London.

He said: “To receive an honour based on merit is absolutely wonderful. It really crowns the work that I have done to date and I’m very proud not only for me but for all of those people that supported the work I have done.”

Sir Michael was chief executive of the Spitalfields development group which helped to regenerate the area over the past 20 years, and was Lord Mayor of the City of London last year.

He said: “I visited over 23 countries doing business delegations and promoting exports, jobs and business for the whole of the UK.”

His Lord Mayor’s appeal helped raise more than £4 million for the children’s charity Coram and the Register of Engineers for Disaster Relief which helps humanitarian aid agencies across the world.

Sir Michael, who is also regeneration director at Hammerson plc, one of the partners leading the regeneration of Brent Cross Cricklewood, was born in South Africa and moved to England in 1978 with his wife, Barbara.

He said: "I came with about £200 as my savings, so to go from there to being a knight of the realm and having been Lord Mayor is a really wonderful journey to have taken - and Barbara has supported me throughout."

The couple celebrated Sir Michael’s knighthood with their friends and family including their two children, Amy, 24, and Marc, 21.

Sir Michael said: “I bought a very special bottle of champagne and we toasted each other and it was a wonderful occasion.”