I was absolutely “over the moon” on hearing in the Argus today (New Year’s Eve) that a friend of mine Robert Brown from Bevendean has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours. If anyone deserved an honour it is Robert.

A disabled man who has had to overcome learning difficulties, he has towered above his problems to become an example to all of how ordinary people can make a difference in society. In the last twenty years governments have provided ordinary people with the chance to get involved and have a say in things which concern all of us, particularly in health issues, for example. I have been involved in some of these but nothing to the extent that Robert has.

He has actually received the honour for the work he has done in Bevendean where he was born and grew up. The scouts, the Community Association and the Church are just some of the groups he has been involved with in the area.

In a society where too many people spend a lot of their time sitting back and complaining about things in the world around them, Robert is an example of someone who, in spite of poor health, has set out to make things better.