Royally Rewarded

LISA BENNETT-DIETRICH OBE

Paula Jordan Mbe

Lisa Bennett-Dietrich, CEO of Community Relations in Schools (CRIS), was honoured for services to Peace Education and Community Reconciliation in the Platinum Jubilee honours list.

CRIS, funded by the Community Relations Council (CRC) Core Funding Scheme, has been forging relationships between schools since the early 1980s, working with hundreds of schools and tens of thousands of pupils, school staff, parents and carers. In the early days CRIS - set up by a group of teacher activists - facilitated contact between schools that would have been positioned, apparently irrevocably, on opposing sides of the community divide at a time when the Troubles were at their height. Over the years they also spearheaded curriculum material to facilitate dialogue between pupils across all phases of education as well as training teachers to build Community Relations projects within their schools.

Lisa’s own work over the years has been focused on supporting families from Holy Cross Nursery in the Ardoyne and Edenderry Nursery in the Shankill, whose schools had created a scheme buddying the children with their counterparts in the other community.

Simon Darby Mbe

Paula Jordan was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, for services to Special Education in Northern Ireland. As one of the last recipients of the MBE by Queen Elizabeth ll, Paula was invited to attend her funeral in Westminster Abbey on 19th September, representing Education and her Education colleagues in Northern Ireland. A few weeks later Paula received her official invitation to the Investiture Ceremony for Tuesday 29 November 2022 in Windsor Castle, where she was accompanied by her sister Lynn, her brother-in-law Paul and goddaughter Amy. Paula was presented her award by King Charles, who took a genuine interest in her work. Speaking of her experience Paula said:

“He asked me about my length of time in Special Education and I told him that I was in my 36th year, at which he joked that I did not look burnt out yet! He asked where the school was, about the pupils and their needs and about the staff, then said, ‘Thank God for people like your staff and yourself’ who work with these children and young people. I felt that he was genuinely interested in what I did and in the welfare of the pupils and staff.”

Simon Darby, 36, from North Belfast, has been recognised for his vital work supporting families living with cancer. Simon has been working for Young Lives vs Cancer, the UK’s leading charity for children and young people with cancer, since 2011.

Simon said: “For me, the honour is reflected back to those young people and parents who have allowed me the privilege to be part of their cancer experience over the last 10 years.

“I wouldn’t be receiving this honour for my contribution to cancer services for young people in Northern Ireland had those families not said ‘yes’ to my support. I am part of a wider team within the hospitals and charity and very much am daily empowered by my nursing, medical and social care colleagues as we work together to deliver our service, so this honour is owed to them also.”

Simon, one of five boys growing up in Belfast, and civilly partnered to Gerard McGarry, said he knew early on he wanted to work with young adults and have a career in social work. His own experience of finding a lump in his testicle aged 19, during his university degree, has also helped him to empathise with young people facing cancer.