8th Annual MP Heroes Tea is great success
“Thank you for a marvellous day on 24th June at the House of Commons for MP Heroes Event. Everyone must have worked so hard to make it run so well & to make us so welcome with a lovely tea. Our thanks to you Maggie, John Healey MP, Tom Levitt MP & Lord Brian Rix & also your volunteers organising team.”
Nellie McHale
On 24th June Volunteering Heroes came together again at the House of Commons for the 8th MP Heroes Tea Party. MPs from over 600 constituencies were invited to elect a Hero who has worked hard to make a difference by volunteering in their community.
The Tea Party was launched as a result of the International Year of Volunteering in 2001. TEC had the idea to ask MPs to invite an older person from their constituency to the House of Commons to congratulate them on their outstanding work in the community and to celebrate them as older volunteers.
The reception featured guest speaker Lord Brian Rix who spoke movingly about his life of volunteering which started when he was a young boy. Each volunteer was presented with a certificate by their MP .
The Janet Atfield Award, created in memory of Janet Atfield OBE, who was the founder of the MP Heroes event, was presented to John Friberg by host Tom Levitt MP and Annette Brooke MP(pictured, top right).
John began with involvement in scouting in 1939. He went through the movement to Rover Scouting and was given a National Service Award for scouting during war years and became a leader holding various leader warrants. He was then appointed Assistant Country Commissioner with special responsibiltiy for disabled scouts with special needs. He was also a memeber of 'Friends of Agoonaree' which raised money to enable them to take the disabled scouts to camp. John was also District Disabled Advisor and mountaineering advisor at District and Country level. He has been given a 40 year Medal of Merit award and now a Silver Acorn, where he also serves on the Poole Scout Executive Committee. John did military service with the Royal Engineers where he served in Egypt and Cypress during the Suez emergency. He joined the Suez Canal Association in 1987 and he founded the Dorset Branch where he became very active in fighting for the medal for the Suez Canal Emergency which he was awarded after 30yrs. He was awarded a Long Service Medal where he rose to sergeant in the Metropolitan Special Constabulary from 1959 - 1972.Afterwards everyone enjoyed tea and cakes in the magnificent surroundings overlooking the River Thames whilst ITV and BBC camera crews interviewed Maggie Semple and some heroes.
Maisie Pullyblank has been declared an 'MP hero' for her work at the Leigham Community Hall. To watch Maisie on the Politics Show click here.
At the bottom of the Politics Show homepage there is a link to South West. The piece is 16mins.30secs into the show
“The 2008 Heroes' Tea Party was a most enjoyable event for me, as it was a privilege to be meeting and greeting people who do so much for the community and to see their shining faces when we have identified them as an MP's 'local hero'. It is humbling too to know how many years they have worked as volunteers and that they continue do so now, even though many are fairly ancient! The whole event makes me feel that this is one of the most heartening sides of life in the UK and a wonderful counterbalance to the doom and gloom which the media tends to focus on. I have to admit that being in such an illustrious and historic setting does add to the sparkle of the day- after all the Palace of Westminster is where so much of life is decided for us and by us as a nation and it does feel good to be part of it.”
Jan Bartlett - TEC Volunteer
“Was my second year at the Heroes Tea Party at the House of Commons and I was assisting the photographer again, getting the names of the MPs and their Heroes as they arrived to be pictured with their Certificates after being ushered over by another volunteer. This day provides a fascinating glimpse of what is going on at Westminster, as beforehand you wait in the ornate Lobby - often shown on television news when votes are taken, and see those involved in our Parliament and their teams striding by plus many tourists. There are also many beautiful pictures hung on the walls to view. We were fortunate to have Brian Rix as the main speaker who was of course eloquent and very amusing, as well as hearing from the life experiences of the long term volunteers being rewarded here, one going back to 1939 involved with scouting and still today helping youngsters learn golf on Saturdays. It is so good to hear of the many good deeds done so willingly by so many and of which we do not hear enough.”
Helen Harris - TEC Volunteer
