THERE WAS a double reason to celebrate for Dundee man Tom Dailly yesterday when he received an MBE on his 75th birthday.

Mr Dailly’s award had been announced in the New Year Honours List but he was unable to travel to Buckingham Palace for the investiture.

Instead he opted to be invested with his MBE in Dundee by Lord Provost John Letford, who was acting in his capacity as Lord Lieutenant of Dundee, the Queen’s representative in the city.

The ceremony took place at the City Chambers and Mr Dailly was accompanied by his wife Jean, son Sandy and daughter Dorothy as well as a number of friends.

Mr Dailly was honoured for his services to race and community relations, having worked with ethnic minority communities in Tayside for more than 30 years.

The citation records that in 1970 he was part of a group that established the Dundee Relations Council, subsequently to become the Tayside Community Relations Council.

Latterly he was responsible for linking Tayside Police with the Tayside Racial Equality Council and establishing a teaching link with universities, colleges, schools and the prison service.

After leaving the employment of TREC Mr Dailly set up the Asian Consultancy Service as a volunteer. As he was no longer an employee of TREC he was able to join the board and was later appointed the organisation’s president.

He worked closely with the police when the Asian Business Watch was established in Tayside.

Mr Dailly was also of great assistance in affording Tayside Police access to interpreting services that enabled the force to produce safety and recruitment material in several languages.

He has worked with Dundee’s Pakistan Society and the Asian Women’s Group, assisting both organisations with funding for projects, helping with housing difficulties and setting up initiatives to assist Asian businesses.