Colchester foodbank founder and Frinton on Sea traffic manager honoured by Queen
Several people across Essex have been awarded medals
The man who set up Colchester foodbank and woman from Frinton on Sea who found new areas for key workers and essential hospital visitors to park without charges during the coronavirus pandemic are among those on the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
As well as establishing Colchester foodbank, Andrew Fordyce has also voluntarily given guidance and support to 16 Brigade over the past decade.
Meanwhile Kay English worked to create a traffic solution during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow key workers and essential visitors to Barts Hospital to park vehicles in the city without breaking parking regulations.
Andrew Fordyce MBE
For services to the community in Colchester
The 50 year-old from Tendring is a clergyman and volunteer military chaplain who has over the last decade created a large and vitally important food bank in his local community.
Andrew is the Rector of the Tenpenny benefices in Essex, delivering spiritual guidance to four villages.
He volunteered to work with the military in 2010, providing pastoral support to the Parachute Regiment Battalions while their military Padres were deployed.
Supporting 16 Medical Regiment for 10 years up to 2020.
Over the past decade he has given guidance and support on a volunteer basis to 16 Brigade, providing much needed psychological and spiritual care to personnel under extreme duress.
Alongside his services to the military, he has been involved in significant work in support of the vulnerable and needy in wider society.
He established the Colchester foodbank in 2009.
After the financial crisis in 2008, he was able to increase awareness, recruit a small number of volunteers and raise ÂŁ2,000 to join the Trussell Trust, and the group delivered their first food parcel out of a village hall in 2009.
The foodbank grew from no premises and a small cohort of volunteers to occupying a 2,000 sq. ft. warehouse, employing a CEO and over 100 volunteers, and delivering over 70 tonnes of food in 8,000 parcels a year.
They have identified the most deprived areas and provide pop-up centres in those locations, and he is planning on expanding the food bank service to provide school uniforms, education and resources to the neediest.
Andrew told Greatest Hits Radio Essex about how it feels to be recognised:
"It's a huge privilege.
"Over time I've realised that even if you don't feel worthy, if people want to say thank you to you and express praise sometimes you need to simply say 'thank you'.
"To be recognised on a national level is deeply humbling."
He also said he sees incredible volunteering every week, and it's very strange to be singled out:
"I feel I simply walk in the shadow of giants.
"What they do tirelessly week in, week out is amazing.
"You don't look for praise, you don't look for recognition, but I want to go on record and say thank you everybody who has supported the foodbank."
Kay English BEM
For services to Transport Management in the City of London, including during the COVID-19 pandemic
The 59 year-old, from Frinton on Sea, is a Traffic Manager in the City of London.
She has worked for over a decade on events requiring solutions to traffic management challenges ranging from the 3 mile procession of the annual Lord Mayor's Show and large-scale international events such as the CHOGM Commonwealth Business Forum.
She ensures minute attention to the operational details of traffic and vehicle management.
She took the leadership role in devising a multi-agency public realm solution to the challenges presented by the overwhelming public response to the London Remembers poppy installation in 2014, building on an exceptional contribution she had made to the challenges of the Diamond Jubilee and Olympic Games in 2012.
She subsequently earned a personal commendation from the City of London Police for her handling of arrangements for the National Service of Commemoration for Afghanistan held at St Paul's.
She was instrumental in enabling the establishment of the Tommy's half Marathon in the city in 2018; the event had over 13,000 participants and raised over ÂŁ10 million for charity.
She took an equally prominent role in the development of an emission reduction parking strategy for the city.
Those efforts to tackle air quality and climate change at a local level led to the International European Parking Association recognising her with an award for innovation for her introduction of new parking tariff structures based on vehicle emissions.
With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, she worked 'on the ground' to devise a traffic solution to enable key workers and essential visitors to Barts Hospital to park vehicles in the city without contravening parking regulations by identifying and securing new areas for them to park without charges, thereby enabling those groups to avoid public transport.