The People’s Honours – a legacy

“Hello, I wanted to let you know that my daughter received a B.E.M. in the King’s New Year Honours List 2024. The citation read – “For Charitable Services to Cancer Patients and Cancer Services in Pembrokeshire”. Elly received her BCyA in 2016 and we are still so proud and loved that amazing day. Her Elly’s Ward 10 Flag Appeal went on to raise £213,500 for the Cancer Ward and a further £16,500 for Children’s Services. Happy New Year & Best Wishes, Mr Lyn Neville – (Elly’s Proud Dad) 

“I email you all at The British Citizen Award to express my heartfelt thanks and that of my family for such a warm welcome, reception and ceremony proceedings during the event. We all thoroughly felt that your hosting, organisation and hospitality towards us left its mark in feeling included as part of the BCA community and wider society.

 I can only commend and express our gratitude to all for the level of professionalism that has been exemplified and hard work you each invested in to ensure that the day transpired to be such a memorable occasion. My children too both had a day to remember, a positive experience with history, architecture and heritage and all being so kind towards them.

 I remain at your disposal and again, my appreciation to each of you for that which you have exhausted and accomplished”. 

“I wanted to thank all the Team at the BCA Team for in an incredible day yesterday.  The staff went out of their way to make us feel comfortable in a very formal environment.  I have to say I really enjoyed the whole day and wish to convey my thanks for everything you do. The organisation of the whole day was perfect.  I am truly touched to be part of the BCA family”.

Matt Allwright was a wonderful presenter and made everyone relax which I thought was a great touch..”
 

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you to you and everyone involved in organising the awards ceremony, it was such a memorable day.  Myself, my husband and my guest Andrew, thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it from the moment we arrived at the Palace of Westminster, the open top bus lap of honour, and the certificate presentation in the evening.

I felt very honoured to be part of the day and to receive such a wonderful prestigious award, once again thank you to everyone involved”.

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the both of you and tour team. We had a fabulous day and met some really wonderful people.

It’s really appreciated and it’s a day we won’t ever forget. Your hard work was visible”.

Thank you again and speak soon.

“Thank you very much. We received the medals, certificates and lovely USB in the post today and the children realise quite how real it is. I told them they are probably one of the younger recipients and I think they did realise what a lovely honour they have been given. So thank you very much-it has indeed been a long journey and lovely to see support  for charity work at a young age; I do believe the sense of charity has no age bounds”.

“My family and I had the most enjoyable experience at Westminster for the BCA.

 I would like to offer my services voluntary of course for future award ceremonies.Is this something you would consider?I would like to help in some way”.

“Joseph received his medal and I have never seen him smile with pride so much! We are all so very proud of him. Joseph  has watched the messages so many times and again continues to wear the biggest smile. Again, on behalf of Joseph thank you so so so much for this honour. We will look forward to meeting you all in the future”.

“Just a quick but heartfelt thank you for  such a memorable day for me. From beginning to end it was a fantastic experience! From a medalist point of view it seemed to go perfectly, without any hitches and flow smoothly from one location to another. The guests I invited from Wooburn Residents’ Association and 1st Wooburn Scouts all thoroughly enjoyed their evening bus lap of honour & Certificate presentation reception.

I will cherish my medal and wear it with pride on my scout uniform!

Once again a huge thank you to you and all the BCA team”.

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“Just wanted to say a huge thank you for the BCA event….. Mum and I had a really fabulous day from start to finish. We both thought that your planning and organisation were excellent…. the day flowed beautifully and all the different parts were really enjoyable. We were also honoured and humbled to meet the other recipients……weren’t there some amazing stories?! We’ve not stopped talking about it all!!”

“Just a quick note to say a massive thank you and well done to you for all the hard work that went into such a seamless and fantastic day.  Laura and I are talking about it this morning and the team are inspired by the stories.  It was such an amazing day – they just get better and better”.

“To all of the amazing team behind BCA – a huge thank you for such kind words, superb organisation, inspiring encouragement and a beautiful flow of events. You are all so sincere and dedicated, it’s a joy. Much love and peace”.

“Many thanks for all your hard work.  You have been amazing in how you have kept us all posted even with information  – and I had such a wonderful day.  I still cant believe it all happened!”.

“I loved it all, thank you so much for inviting me to be part of the panel, and to come to the ceremony, it feels a massive honour and the ability to do anything to help with The BCA’s in not something I would ever want to miss. You and your team work exceptionally hard, and quite brilliantly, if I could hand out an award I would give one to each of you”.

” I can fully appreciate all of the hard work that you will have put in to make your medal presentations happen. Medallists are made to feel very special.  It was lovely to see so many happy faces and even some tears of joy as the medallist collected their medals.  They will remember that day for a very long time. Thank you for approaching Irwin Mitchell.  We’ve found it a truly heart felt and warming experience”.

“Thanks so much for inviting us  – was a really lovely event – funny, moving, heart-warming and well organised”.

“I wanted to thank you so very much for such a wonderful day. It was a real joy and honour to be in the same room as so many wonderful people. It was organised wonderfully. I think it is such a wonderful thing to be running. I would like to get involved as a Ambassadors should you require my services. I am happy to put a link  on to my website and such and I would be happy to talk at functions and future awards and also drum up support at a local level and beyond. I am more than happy to offer my services to the BCA’s on-going”.

“Having time to read the many emails Facebook entries and cards of congratulations , I just wanted to place on record  my sincere gratitude to you , personally , and all of your colleagues at BCA  who made my day a truly wonderful one. Everything worked out perfectly. So thank you once again and may I wish you , personally , and the BCA collectively , every success in the future”.

“We had a great time, Patsy was overwhelmed by the people who spoke to her and praised her for what she has done”.

“It was a most memorable day and it certainly exceeded all my expectations. It was such a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to witness some of the amazing accomplishments of the medalists. I felt very privileged to be able to share the day and remain in awe of such exceptional people”.

“Mary and I would like to thank you very much for the lovely day , everyone was so kind and made us very welcome”.

“Thank you so much for the amazing day and for these photos. You all deserve a medal too. Much love and peace”.

“I hope you and the British Citizen Award team are all well following such a hectic time for you. Thank you so much for all your help, advice, support and very warm hospitality leading up to and during the medal presentations.  We got great coverage over 5 news bulletins on Radio City yesterday with clips of an interview done with Pat and I on Friday morning – The Liverpool Echo are covering the story “.

“The whole ceremony and Lap of Honour were wonderful, and so well organised which, as you will have no doubt gathered from my nomination, is something I strive to achieve, in fact, the whole process has been excellent, and may I say, so pleasant. I have been overwhelmed by all the attention I have had since Thursday’s embargo was lifted.  I have been live on BBC local radio, articles have been in local newspapers, I know I am to have some national publicity, and the amount of congratulations I have received on social media, cards, etc has been phenomenal, Norfolk has certainly become aware of the British Citizen Award. As Will Gore wrote in his article in the i on Friday, we all got there despite the Tube strike.  Betty, David and I have forgotten our horrendous journeys to and from the Palace of Westminster, it didn’t matter as the actual ceremony was memorable and humbling”.

“Just a quick note to say how much I; and presumably the other 27 recipients, of this first British Citizens Award, appreciated the welcome extended to us. I have seldom experience such a well organised exercise in the art of communication through the media of e-mail.  THANKYOU.  I would also like to thank you all for making the afternoon tea event such a jolly occasion.  Michael Underwood was exquisite at keeping the presentations on track.  I was honoured to have been presented my Medal by Baroness Cox – All in all a humbling yet uplifting experience.  Thank you”.

“Thank you so much for the wonderful BCA event. The stories that we heard we both humbling and inspirational. Long may these awards continue in celebrating the unsung heroes of our society. Well done to everyone who organised it and thank you once again, I will wear my medal with pride!”

“Thank you so much for a fantastic day yesterday. It was a huge honour for me to receive this award and was a wonderful afternoon”.