Manchester Arena bombing policeman receives ‘people’s honour’
A former policeman who helped victims of the Manchester Arena bombing has received a “people’s honour” after setting up an annual event to remember those who died.
Aaron Parmar, 38, established the Manchester Remembers Foundation after being deeply affected by the attack at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.
As well as helping on the night, he was assigned as a liaison officer to the family of Philip Tron, who was among the dead.
Having changed jobs to become a firefighter, he has raised £170,000 for the charity, partly by completing 22 runs - one for each of the dead - of 10km while wearing full firefighting kit.
He was one of 27 people honoured with a British Citizen Award (BCA), most of whom attended a medal-giving ceremony at the House of Lords on Thursday.
Mr Parmar said: “It means everything to get this award. I personally would like to dedicate it to all the families who have been so brave in the aftermath of the bombing.”
The medal presentation event, hosted by the television presenter Matt Allwright, was attended by BCA patrons Dame Mary Perkins, founder of Specsavers, and Lord Dholakia, the Liberal Democrat peer.
The awards were set up in 2015 to recognise “hidden” community heroes who are often overlooked by the formal honours system.
Cancer charity founder also honoured
Also recognised was Oa Hackett, a survivor of breast cancer, who set up a charity to send morale-boosting gift boxes to women and men undergoing treatment for the same condition.
Little Lifts aims to send products that help relieve the side effects of cancer treatment as well as treats to lift the mood of recipients.
Every year 55,000 women and 400 men are diagnosed with breast cancer, and 61,000 women are currently living with incurable breast cancer.
Ms Hackett, 38, from Norwich, was diagnosed in 2014 at the age of 28 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She has raised £1.5 million so far for her charity.
She said: “The boxes are curated by people with experience of breast cancer, so there might be chilli oil to add flavour to food when people’s sense of taste is affected, or skin products, but the effect on people’s emotional wellbeing has been huge.
“People say that when they get the box they no longer feel alone and it’s like being in a club that no one wants to be part of.”
Keith Davies, 55, from Banbury in Oxfordshire, was given a British Citizen Award for his seven years managing the Volunteer Driver Service (VDS), which now has 140 volunteers taking people to hospital appointments, many of whom have no other means of getting to them.
Last year the VDS completed 7,754 journeys, covering 286,742 miles, and also worked with local councils and fire services to collect and safety test electric blankets, before returning them to their owners if they passed.
Among those who could not make it to Westminster but will be honoured at a locally-held ceremony was James Wilson. He has dedicated 70 years of his life to the Scout movement and remains active as vice-president of the Belper and District Scouts in Derbyshire at the age of 93.