MK couple, Aylesbury councillor & Leighton Buzzard charity worker honoured by Queen
Several across Bucks, Beds & Herts have been awarded medals
A couple from Milton Keynes and a man who works with the homeless in Leighton Buzzard are among those on the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
Shaaron and Andrew Forbes used their community centre in Wolverton to reach out to those needing foodbank services during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Paul Latimer from Leighton stayed with those in his care when lockdown hit.
A councillor from Aylesbury is also amongst those honoured in the list revealed overnight.
Shaaron & Andrew Forbes BEM
For services to the community in Wolverton, Buckinghamshire.
The couple have been serving vulnerable people in their Wolverton community, and since 2014 they has been joint manager of the Kings Community Centre (KKC).
Benefitting thousands of residents, KKC goes way beyond what you would expect from a community centre.
The couple supports a diverse community with food poverty and isolation, organising a weekly free lunch drop in, with 5,000 meals served in 2018.
Both rose to the challenging times of Covid-19 and increased the foodbank service from weekly to daily, and introduced home delivery for the most vulnerable.
This was achieved despite having to furlough the centre’s staff, as rental income ceased.
Paul Latimer BEM
For services to the community in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire during Covid-19
Leighton Linslade Homeless Service is a registered charity that runs a homeless shelter that prior to the pandemic provided meals and food bank centre for individuals who would otherwise be rough sleepers.
The operation of the charity is made possible by the support of volunteers, most of whom are over 60 years old. After lockdown was announced, it was obviously impossible to use the services of these volunteers, but it was imperative that the shelter remain open for residents 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
To enable this to materialise he and another member of staff moved into the shelter on a permanent basis.
This was a major sacrifice as he was working his notice to leave so had to abandon such plans, and was also unable to see family at a time when his brother was seriously ill with inoperable cancer and sadly died during lockdown.
During this period the situation further deteriorated as a suspected Covid outbreak occurred amongst the shelter residents.
Although this turned out to be a false alarm, it necessitated an additional complete shutdown of contact with the outside world for 11 days until further testing was completed.
To keep residents occupied he and a colleague devised activities which encouraged residents to take increasing responsibility for their own welfare and local environment. They were encouraged to help assemble food parcels for other local charities, working together and through this discovering their own self-worth.
This was particularly apparent amongst those with addiction problems, where the combination of a lock-in (depriving them of ready access to drugs or alcohol) and the positive environment resulted in improvements in behaviour.
Raj Walli Khan BEM
For services to the community in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
He has been an active and larger than life figure in Aylesbury local politics for many years, having been a District and County Councillor serving on numerous committees and is a former Mayor of Aylesbury.
Currently he is a councillor with the new unitary Buckinghamshire Council and also a member of Aylesbury Community Board, Central Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee and Wendover Community Board.
Since the beginning of lockdown the Aylesbury COVID-19 Support Hub have been seeking volunteers to collect prescriptions for shielded residents, and he offered his taxi company to assist in any way possible, providing ongoing support throughout the pandemic.
They have been the go-to volunteers, especially for difficult prescription collections from hospitals further afield or for last minute emergency collections.
On top of this, he has been providing free curry meals for all of those working within the Aylesbury COVID-19 Support Hub and to the local emergency services on the frontline.
He told Greatest Hits radio his name may be on the list, but its an award for the whole community:
"There are so many names I could mention and the list would never stop. I am privileged to be recognised for the work I did, but there are so many others.
"So many people put their lives at risk to save our lives and I want to thank them especially the NHS who put their lives on hold to look after the community and the most vulnerable.
"I am not a hero, the people of Aylesbury are the heroes. We could not do anything without the people of Aylesbury who have helped and it makes be proud to be part of the community.
"It has been such a difficult time but I have seen the best of humanity and I hope this push to help others stays beyond the pandemic."