Have you ever wondered why so few of the fantastic volunteers locally aren’t recognised for their work?
Author: Martin Matthews
People are rightly proud of our community. We have our fair share of fantastic people who volunteer their time quietly week in week out. Everyone knows someone like that; school governors, the mountain rescue team, guide and scout leaders, the list is endless. It’s a mystery why many more aren’t recognised with some kind of national award, perhaps an MBE?
Many of us sit there when the honours lists are published and wonder why some people are recognised but rarely people locally. Shouting at the TV doesn’t help, I’ve tried it.
If you have wondered why so few locals aren’t recognised here is the reason why. The days of a civil servant sat at a Dickensian desk with quill pen and a list methodically going through who should and shouldn’t be honoured are long gone. Most recipients are nominated by others from their community; the only person you can’t nominate is yourself!
We have to start thinking as a community that we should routinely nominate local people. Please don’t think of this as an end of career event. Anyone over eighteen can be nominated; the criteria for a British Empire Medal is “positive hands-on’ high impact on your local community over 3-4 years “.
The nomination process is much simpler than you may think. The whole process can be done online and via email. To support almost anyone to nominate someone I’ve written a “How to” toolkit which has been read/downloaded over 15,000 times. This free step by step guide gives support in all aspects of the process. It was written by me so we all can nominate whoever we want.
Chances are if you don’t make the nomination no one will.
Have a ponder and get in touch if I can help.
Regardless of how much you disagree with the “Empire” aspect seeing a local person valued by our society is great. If they are nominated it’s their choice to accept or not. Read my article for the RSA on potential honours system reform if you want to discuss change.
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
If you would like to share an interesting story, achievement, photo or something you just want to happily shout about please send it in an email to hello@saddleworthlife.com We'd ❤ to hear from you!!
