WESTBURY resident John Adams was delighted to receive his OBE from The Queen on Friday 18th February.
The Westbury church warden and chairman of Westbury and District Link Scheme, was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year 2011 Honours List in recognition of his services to social care. On Friday 18th February he received his medal from The Queen in a ceremony at Windsor Castle.
John said, “It was a really wonderful day and The Queen presented me with the award – which was very special indeed. Windsor Castle is such a magical setting. Everything is so well organised, you are made to feel so welcome and special – I lost count of the Royal Household staff who congratulated me.
“The Queen was flanked by two Gurkha soldiers as well as several members of her staff – including a Lord in Waiting!”
John, who lives in the town, has worked in the adult social care field for more than 35 years having been a long serving director of Scope, one of the UK’s largest disability charities.
He now runs a national umbrella body for voluntary social care providers and is chairman of the Department of Health’s Third Sector and Social Enterprise Sounding Board.
In the 1980s John developed a range of services, including community housing, for severely disabled people in Salisbury, where he also served as a Justice of the Peace for ten years and was chairman of the Lord Chancellor’s South East Wiltshire Advisory Sub-Committee from 1996 to 2003. He is a past chairman of the Wiltshire Police Authority’s Standards Committee.
