Rushden man honoured by the Queen for services to the community

A Rushden man has been honoured by the Queen for services to the community in Northamptonshire.

Alan Armson, 74, has been awarded an MBE in the Queen's New Year Honours list.

He was nominated for numerous roles, including as chairman of Rushden-based charity Serve where he promotes the independence of older people and those with disabilities, providing a range of services to assist them to live at home, improve their quality of life, health and well-being.

Alongside his work with Serve, he is chairman of East Northants Health and Wellbeing Forum, a body that reports to the countywide Health and Wellbeing Board.

He took on the role he describes as 'worthwhile' about four years ago.

He has been instrumental in leading fundraising for Grafham Sailability, a charity devoted to helping people with a disability enjoy sailing.

He instigated the provision of new buildings more suitable to disabled people, helping raise £80,000 for the new cabins.

He is also a pivotal part of the annual Dragon Boat Racing Event which mainly raises funds for Kettering's Cransley Hospice and Corby's Lakelands Hospice, and to date the event has raised £230,000.

The event is something Alan is very proud of and something he believes wouldn't have happened in the early days without his persistence to get it going and established as a very popular fundraiser.

And as a director of Commsortia, he has become very involved with solving county level priorities through his directorship to set up and coordinate numerous service providers to address the increasing demand of social care.

Commsortia is a consortium of Northamptonshire voluntary, community and social enterprises, such as Serve and Age UK Northamptonshire, which come together to deliver services and contracts for people in the county.

Speaking to the Northants Telegraph about his MBE, Alan said: "I am shocked and very surprised."

After having worked away from home for a long time and taking early retirement in 2007, he says he wanted to get involved locally and give something back and he seems to have done just that.

Speaking about his time at Serve, Alan said: "I got involved with Serve back in 2008.

"It was following a presentation by the then chief executive officer at a club that I belonged to and I thought that seems like something that I would like to get involved with locally.

"I was invited along to Serve and had a chat with them and they invited me onto the board of trustees.

"I took on the role of chairman in 2010 and I am still chairman.

"Even then they were a very successful charity.

"They had a good reputation locally and provided services to very vulnerable people and it was the sort of work I could see myself getting involved with, even as a volunteer.

"I used to drive one of the minibuses, I used to take a group of elderly people shopping every Friday to one of the local supermarkets."

Talking about working with organisations such as Serve, Alan said: "You do get a lot of satisfaction out of the opportunity you are providing to people that don't have the same benefits and opportunities as yourself."

But receiving an honour was never something Alan thought about when he started looking for local organisations to get involved with.

He said: "When I started back in 2008, this is the last thing you think about, you don't think about honours.

"You are doing it because it's something you want to do."

And now the New Year Honours list has been announced, Alan is finally able to share his good news about the MBE with his two sons as well as other family and friends.

Away from all the good work Alan does in the community, he has two dogs that keep him very active with five-mile walks every day.