Empire stars Clive Rowe and Sharon D Clarke get gongs in New Year’s Honours list

Alexia Khadime and-Sharon D. Clarke in Sleeping Beauty at Hackney Empire

MBE stands for Member of the Order of the British Empire.

But perhaps it should be changed to Member of the Order of the Hackney Empire in the case of two stars of that famous stage.

Clive Rowe, who has played the Dame in successive pantomime productions at the Empire in recent years, was among those recognised with an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list.

So was Sharon D Clarke, who described the Empire as her “second home” in an interview with the Hackney Citizen late last year.

She starred in its most recent panto, Sleeping Beauty, and has performed there in various guises for around 16 years.

She likes it so much that she even wed her partner, Susie McKenna, the Empire’s creative director, on the famous playhouse’s stage.

Clive Rowe as Dame Trot in Jack and the Beanstalk in 2010

Clarke grew up in Tottenham and was sent to the Ivy Travers Dance School as a child, first treading the boards in panto aged six.

Also honoured was Chaya Spitz, the chief executive of the Stamford Hill-based Interlink Foundation, who was made an OBE.

She said: “It is immensely humbling to receive this award.

“For believing Jews, our faith compels us to use the time and the gifts God has given us, to do good.  In this sense, I have only done what so many others do every day.  I am especially conscious of this in my role at Interlink, which sits at the epicentre of Orthodox Jewish charitable and social action.

“Inasmuch as this award recognises the amazing work and sheer dedication within the Interlink supports, I am deeply honoured to receive it.”

Rabbi Avroham Pinter, a leader of the community in Stamford Hill, told the Jewish Chronicle  Spitz was “a pioneer and role model for Haredi women”.