A TAVISTOCK lecturer is to receive the MBE after being named in the 2009 New Year's Honours List for his work in the arts.

David Oddie, a senior lecturer at UCP (University College Plymouth) Marjon, is currently spearheading the ARROW programme (Art: A Resource for Reconciliation Over the World) which was recently shortlisted for the 2008 Times Higher Education Award in the category of excellence and innovation in the arts.

The programme recognises that the arts have a significant contribution to make towards building relationships across barriers, challenging stereotypes and nurturing empathy, and a world congress is now being planned providing a share platform for ARROW groups all over the world.

Mr Oddie said he was 'delighted', if uncomfortable, about the title of the honour he has received: 'For me personally, although I am very proud and celebrate joyfully with my sons the acknowledgement of public service, the invitation to accept an honour that still uses the term British Empire did present some difficulty.

'I work in places for the ARROW programme, such as Palestine, where the British Empire has had a disastrous impact and history.

'Is it not time to rethink the Honours titles, so that public service and commitment are acknowledged and celebrated without association with a specific historical perspective, which for some people is uncomfortable and indeed inappropriate in the modern world?'

Mr Oddie said he was pleased to accept the honour on behalf of friends, colleagues and young people who shared the work and activities of the ARROW programme in the UK, Palestine, Kosovo, South Africa, Sierra Leone and more widely across the world.

'We are deeply moved that our efforts have been given public recognition,' he said.

Mr Oddie established the Rent-A-Role drama service in 1980 which he ran from the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth and which continues today under the name of Plymouth Barbican Theatre. He continued to develop his pioneering teaching approach which ran in schools in Plymouth until 1996.

Completing a masters degree, Mr Oddie helped to develop the Barefoot Project based at Marjon and then started the BA drama programme in 2000.