The Isle of Wight’s Clare Griffin has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, it has been announced tonight (Friday).
Clare, 56, has been recognised for services to the community on the Isle of Wight and her efforts in the response to COVID-19.
For the past 31 years, Clare has managed the West Wight Sports and Community Centre. She was originally manager for the local swimming pool and successfully secured a sports lottery grant to develop the site into the sports centre as we know it today.
Working alongside members of the local community, Clare has helped set up ‘Our Place’, a drop in café to support vulnerable individuals. Even before the start of the pandemic lockdown she had led the community in the establishment of the ‘West Wight Coronavirus Support’ hub to meet the needs of the local community.
In response to COVID-19, Clare organised a community meeting and encouraged individuals and local businesses to volunteer during the crisis. Within days, there were over 400 volunteers recruited to monitor phone lines, shop for those isolating, collect prescriptions and a steering group was established to coordinate the work. She recognised the need for leaflet distribution to ensure the most vulnerable were able to get the help they needed within days of lockdown.
The West Wight Coronavirus Support Hub team also oversaw the production of scrubs for local care homes and production of 1,200 face masks to the local community. The team also managed to provide hot meals from the centre’s café which were delivered to the homes of people shielding or isolating.
With the closure of the sports facilities, the team set up an online classes programme and virtual fitness classes. This ensured members were able to maintain fitness programmes during lockdown and this ensured the centre was able to maintain some membership income which helped sustainability.
Other Islanders recognised include:
• Major Randal Sinclair Cross, from Ryde, who has been awarded an MBE for services to the community in Ryde and the Isle of Wight
• Joanne Dare, Chief Executive of Age UK Isle of Wight, who has been awarded a BEM for services to Older People
Any relation to Peter Griffin?
Congratulations to Maj Randal Cross
Well deserved for by Clare, and the rest involved.
Awaiting approval again, maybe Mr Editor disagrees with my comment?
LOL, fair enough. 🙂