A member of Water Lane United Reformed Church (URC) in Bishop's Stortford, has been made a dame in the Queen’s birthday honours.

Elizabeth Gardiner, a solicitor who helped draft the government's coronavirus pandemic legislation, was honoured for her services to the government and the legislative process and is now a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB).

Elizabeth was the first ever woman to be appointed to her current post of First Parliamentary Counsel when she landed the job in November 2015. She is now one of the country's leading civil servants.

“It was a lovely surprise, although I'm still getting used to the idea” said Dame Elizabeth to the Bishop’s Stortford Independent.

"It is obviously a huge honour to have my work recognised in this way. I work with a fantastic team of fellow civil servants who really care about the quality of our law, and I hope they all feel a bit of a share in this honour."

The Revd Roy Fowler, Minister of Water Lane URC, expressed his joy.

“Everyone at Water lane URC is absolutely delighted that Lizzie has been made a dame in the recent birthday honours list and for the affirmation of the really important work that she does regarding creating government legislation.

"While we are aware that she does something important in her daily work, we also know Lizzie the person, who along with her husband, gets stuck into church life, reading from the Bible, welcoming people at the door and helping with serving coffee."

This is not the first time Elizabeth has been honoured. In 2013, she was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in that year’s birthday honours.

Read more about Dame Elizabeth here.

_{Image: Bishop's Stortford Independent
Published: 21 June 2021}