NORTH-EAST businessman Alasdair MacConachie said receiving an OBE at Buckingham Palace yesterday was a once in a lifetime experience.

The managing director of the Sherwoods car dealership received the honour for his services to Darlington, where he is chairman of St Teresa's Hospice, the College of Technology and Darlington Partnership, a forum of local business leaders.

Mr MacConachie said the Queen had asked him about the hospice and how it was developing.

He said: "It was quite a fantastic experience - it was stunning. There were 102 of us and everything was organised with military precision.

"The Queen asked about the hospice and I said we had opened a day care centre after five years, and she was very interested."

. . . as Leah keeps palace date

NORTH-EAST leprosy worker Leah Pattison is keeping a date with the Queen at Buckingham Palace today, at a lunch honouring some of Britain's most remarkable women.

Miss Pattison, from Frosterley, County Durham, is being honoured for her work with women deformed and stigmatised by leprosy in the Indian city of Nagpur.

At the lunch, commemorating International Woman's Day, she will be mingling with the rich and famous, including singing star Shirley Bassey, models Kate Moss, Twiggy and Lady McCartney, opera singer Lesley Garrett, Harry Potter author JK Rowling and the Prime Minster's wife Cherie Booth.

A Bucking Palace spokeswoman said: "This lunch is for women from all walks of life who, like Leah, have done some amazing things."