The Deputy Mayor of Dudley has praised four borough residents who have received British Empire Medals for their community work ahead of a ceremony.

On Thursday 26 September the Lord-Lieutenant for the West Midlands Derrick Anderson will be joined by West Midlands BEM recipients from this year’s King’s Birthday Honours and New Year Honours.

Sixteen honourees will attend the ceremony in total, which will also include presentations to two recipients from last year and one from outside the region. All have made an active contribution to help others and make the region a richer, kinder place. They are passionate about what they do and have gone to extraordinary lengths to help others, volunteering their time for countless years.

Dr Kenneth Austin Smith has been honoured for services to the community in Dudley for his role in the Hawbush Gardens project in Brierley Hill. The area was transformed from an urban Farm by Kenneth, and the gardens are now a hive of community activity with a wide variety of groups growing produce, gardening, conserving wildlife and enjoying tranquility there. Produce from the gardens is regularly delivered to the Black Country Foodbank and allotments are used by local mental health projects to promote wellbeing.  Programmes have also been developed with schools to understand “seed to plate”, inspiring a future generation of gardeners.

Christian Dixon BEM has been honoured for services to mental health in Dudley and the Black Country. Christian has fused his acting talent and passion for mental health and wellbeing, to create programmes and services that have been transformational to many experiencing complex issues. He established the Arts of Change Trust to augment the delivery of counselling and therapeutic services to young people and adults in the Black Country and has since provided over a million sessions. During the Covid-19 lockdowns he led on developing a groundbreaking toolkit to help parents who would normally meet their children at contact centres, see and communicate with them remotely in a creative way, keeping the children engaged. This has proved to be so successful that, with funding from the National Lottery, it has rolled out nationwide. 

Kingswinford resident Sundeep Kaur (BEM) has been honoured for services to the community in the West Midlands during COVID-19. As well as running her own business, Sundeep is a director of United Sikhs and During the Covid-19 lockdowns utilised her networks to support elderly and vulnerable residents in her local area. Sundeep coordinated the donation and delivery of pallets of food to local hospitals to support staff morale, and also supported the needs of women and children living in shelters. She worked tirelessly to provide hot meals for many who were isolated and alone and shares her knowledge in workshops supporting families to improve their well-being and help them deal with the challenges of modern life.

Meanwhile, Norma Hyde BEM from Halesowen has been honoured for services to the Special Olympics.  For many years Norma was a teacher in a Special Educational Needs School, and now uses her experience to lead Special Olympics Sandwell. She has been involved for over 20 years, running an extremely active group with at least two sporting sessions a week for people with a wide range of learning disabilities. Norma has inspired a generation of volunteers to support the group and this means that members have been able to attend sporting events at home or away. Members look forward to their activities developing self-confidence and self-esteem through healthy exercise and sport in a safe and controlled environment.

Councillor Peter Lee, Deputy Mayor of Dudley, said: “I am delighted to be attending this special event, which recognises the incredible achievements of local people who have done such amazing work in and for their communities.

“I would particularly like to congratulate our four Dudley borough honourees who are receiving this honour.

“The Mayor of Dudley has also invited them to join her at an event at Himley later this month, where she will thank them personally for all they continue to do for our borough.”

The other recipients include eight from Birmingham, two from Solihull, one from Sutton Coldfield and one from Wolverhampton.

The Lord-Lieutenant for the West Midlands, Derrick Anderson CBE, who has recently taken up the position, believes the recipients reflect the depth and breadth of caring and goodwill that many people provide in the West Midlands.

He said: “It is an absolute pleasure to bestow the BEM awards upon so many deserving recipients and meet these wonderful people who give so much of their time to make our region a better place. They are an inspiration to us all.”