South Yorks SSAFA volunteer recognised in New Year’s Honours

09 January 2024

Adrian Hunt, the Secretary of the South Yorkshire branch of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity has been granted the King’s Volunteer Reserves Medal (KVRM) in the New Year’s Honours 2024.

Adrian retired from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) as a major in September 2023 after 23 years’ service in the Reserves, and before this, he completed 23 years with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment.

In addition to SSAFA, Adrian is the Chair of Trustees to a local military charity MCVC (Military Community Veterans Centre) based in Rotherham, which was mentioned in Her Late Majesty’s Birthday Honours 2022 receiving the Queens Award for Voluntary Service and in 2023, it received Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association silver award.

Adrian, appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) to South Yorkshire in 2019, which he called a “huge privilege”, joined SSAFA in 2007 as a caseworker, progressed to Branch Secretary, and was awarded the Sir James Gildea Award in 2023. Named after the charity’s founder, it is the highest honour SSAFA can bestow.

Of his KVRM, Adrian said: “It was a great privilege to receive the honour and I am extremely proud and overwhelmed,” adding that he enjoys “… doing anything I can to promote the County of South Yorkshire and help those people that aren't so well off.”

He went on to say that he believes “… nearly everyone has something they can offer to a voluntary organisation, and I 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 Adrian, 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.”