We are delighted to announce that IDEALS has been honoured for the second time in His Majesty's New Year Honours list.
In 2019, John Beavis, our Founder and long-standing Chair, was awarded the OBE for IDEALS tireless charity work since the Balkan Wars.
In the 2025 list, Graeme Groom, our current Co-Chair, has been awarded the CMG.
Graeme writes:
"It is mortifying to be granted an individual reward for a collective effort. And IDEALS exists because of the collective rather than the individual.
However, I cannot alter it and I do not know of another charity of comparable size which has been honoured twice in such a short period.
There is no doubt that IDEALS punches well above its weight and that its impact is much, much greater than the sum of its parts. All we do is collective. Since 2009, our group of extraordinary volunteers has brought hope and relief to some of the most disregarded, disparaged, deprived, dispossessed, and attacked people in the world. And we stick at it. "Long-term support" is the key message from our acronym.
This reward is an honour for me, but it is solely because of IDEALS and it is for the fellowship of this wonderful group that I am truly grateful.
There may well be practical benefits. The award signifies the formal approval of the FCDO and this will raise the profile of our activities in every NHS Trust from which our volunteers hail."
