The British Empire Medals take place in Exeter

The latest presentation of the British Empire Medals have taken place at Exeter Guildhall conducted by Mr David Fursdon, the Lord Lieutenant of Devon.

People from right across the county have been given the award, issued in the New Year’s honours list.

Ann Doody from Ilfracombe was one of the recipients, who has been a stalwart to the community and a long-standing contributor to the local Rotary club.

"We moved to Ilfracombe in 1981," said Ann in the cream tea reception after the ceremony.

"We had a hotel in those days and thus became involved in the tourism association. I also got involved in ‘Ilfracombe in Bloom’, not just organising it but getting down on my hands and knees and weeding the streets. I had to give that up
when I had my new hip, I couldn’t get down that low anymore!"

Ann has a great sense of humour and continued her story of life in North Devon with a twinkle in her eye.

"I have been involved with Ilfracombe Rotary Club for years, in fact I was the first lady president in 2011 and I have just had the title back again this year, so I am a sort of recycled president… very green… I like a bit of recycling!"

Ann received a Pride in Ilfracombe Award in 2008 for services to tourism and has the Paul Harris Fellowship, the highest service award with Rotary International for those whose contribution is above and beyond.

I had to ask, with her tourism expert hat on, what is the best part of the Ilfracombe?

"The harbour is the gem; it is the heart of the town. Then up over the tors, we are so diverse as an area, and because we are on part of the South West Coastal Path, it is truly beautiful. The trouble this year with tourist numbers was the fact that Easter
was early, and we always hate that, we have two weeks of the school holidays, then another gap before things pick up again. We would love it if Easter was kept to April."

I left it there but have a suspicion if anyone can fix Easter as a solid date, Ann is the person.

Ian Barnaby has been a member of the RNLI lifeboat service for over 21 years.

‘Barney’ as he is known to everyone, started as one of the first helms of the lifeboat service on the river Thames in 2002. He transferred in 2015 when he moved to Devon and is now part of the Torbay crew in Brixham.

He is unsure of the numbers but to date he has attended over 470 callouts, aiding 234 people, and saving at least 14 lives.

"The BEM means a great deal to me," said Barney at The Guildhall.

"I was completely shocked when I got the letter, and the question… why me went through my head? This award is not just for me, it’s for the station and the rest of crew."

Saving Lives at Sea is an essential television programme when we, the public, can get a glimpse of what it is really like. Barney reflected on the programme.

"I have been on there a couple of times, just the back of my head, never interviewed. It’s what we do, what we are trained for and just get on with it. Whatever gets thrown at us, we deal with it. It’s the other bits in between that I feel a little uncomfortable with…like this event."

We met a few weeks earlier to mark the 200th anniversary of the RNLI.

It had been a quiet period when we spoke, but had he been called out since then?

"Yes, we have had a few large-scale callouts. A few weeks back a fishing boat went down up the coast. It was us and Exmouth that got launched to the local Brixham vessel, luckily the crew had got off and into a lift raft. Thankfully all of them were OK.
We have also been out to a couple of trawlers in poor weather. I went one recently about 20 miles out which was taking on water. That was a long tow in, I remember that one. There was another taking on water but as soon as he started his engine,
water poured in. We checked his bilges and sorted the problem… that was an even longer day."

All very different from operating on The Thames?

"We had a fifteen mile stretch of river to cover, cold and very fast flowing. If you went in, you had a very short time to be rescued. It’s all changed now but I remember in the early days, one of the very first phone calls came in from the coastguard. The caller gave me the name of the wharf where a person was in the water… I asked the rest of the crew where it was, and no one knew! They were rescued… but it was a steep learning curve. There are so many wharfs and landmarks to learn. To a lesser extent it is like learning ‘the knowledge’ that the taxi drivers have to do. Knowing the river is half the battle won."

Ian’s energy and input have generated over £90,000 in donations to Torbay Lifeboat Station through various challenges. The entire Torbay lifeboat crew have taken part in different feats culminating in eight of the crew on the summit of Kilimanjaro.

In 2019 he persuaded the team to raise money to aid Prostate Cancer UK with just over £15,000 coming in but less than a year later he encouraged five Torbay crew members to join him on a trip to Ukraine, travelling 3000 miles to deliver medicine,
clothing, and food.

And all this goes on whilst being a volunteer coach at Galmpton United Football Club with the youth teams.

As the citation speech said … Ian is truly deserving of national recognition as he retires from operational duty.

But like Ann, I do not think we have heard the last from Ian in our community.

If you think someone in your area deserves recognition, why not start the process by visiting www.lordlieutenantofdevon.org.uk/helping-you/