Newark volunteer recognised in New Year’s Honours

04 January 2024

Stephen Charnock, the Secretary of the Nottinghamshire branch of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity has been granted the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year’s Honours 2024.

In the citation of Stephen’s BEM’s is stated that it was given for “… services to the community in Newark” – and what an amount of service has he given.

Preston-born Stephen, who retired from the Royal Air Force as a Wing Commander in 2013, has been the Chair of Trustees and Front of House Volunteer for Newark Foodbank for more than 10 years helping those in the community suffering from food poverty including a number of service veterans. More recently, he has helped establish a social supermarket running alongside the Foodbank to provide a more sustained way of accessing food at a reasonable cost.

He joined SSAFA as a caseworker around seven years ago, became Branch Secretary five years later, and was awarded the Sir James Gildea Award – named after SSAFA’s founder – in 2022.

For 11 years, Stephen has been Chairman of the Joint Audit and Scrutiny Panel for Nottinghamshire Police and the Police and Crime Commission, and in his spare time, he volunteers at the National Civil War Centre in Newark transcribing 17th-Centruy tracts into everyday English as well as producing a number of geoapps for the museum.

Of his BEM, Stephen said: “It was a great privilege to receive the honour and I am extremely proud of the achievement, but I see it as much as a recognition for all the collective work of all the volunteers in the organisations that I have an association with as much as for my own efforts.

“Although I am proud of the time I served in the RAF, the things that I take most pride in are the things I have done since then including in particular my work with Newark and Tuxford Foodbank and Nottinghamshire SSAFA as well as the somewhat less stressful side of working at the National Civil War Centre.”

He added that he enjoys “…doing anything I can to promote the town and help those people that aren't so well off,” saying: “I believe that nearly everyone has something they can offer to a voluntary organisation and always say that if they have not thought about volunteering then please do so as they will find it is as much a rewarding experience for themselves as it is help to the organisation they are volunteering for.”

Commenting, Kirsty Bushell CBE, SSAFA’s National Vice Chair, said: “Voluntary service is the lifeblood of communities – military and civilian, in the UK and where we operate overseas – and on behalf of SSAFA, I extend my sincere congratulations to Stephen, who was recognised in the New Year Honours List 2024 for his service to others, particularly those within the Armed Forces family and especially to SSAFA’s beneficiaries, wherever they are.”