Sunderland New Year Honours woman mistook Cabinet Office call for B&Q
Kim Sheers, from Houghton, who is to receive a British Empire Medal (BEM) for her voluntary work for young people with disabilities, said: “I knew nothing about it until I picked the phone up a couple of weeks ago and the caller said she was from the Cabinet.
"I was stunned and thought to myself ‘the Cabinet? I can’t remember ordering a cabinet from B&Q.
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Hide Ad"And then when she explained a little further I still thought she was joking.”
Kim, 51, founded the Lumley Boccia and Social Group, based at Great Lumley Methodist Church, near Chester-le-Street, in 2013 to provide recreational facilities for autistic and physically disabled people aged 16 and above.
The group initially comprised of herself and her two children, Nathan, now 23, and Kate, 22, who are both autistic.
It now has around 45 members with parents, carers and children travelling to weekly sessions from Sunderland, Washington, Houghton, Chester-le-Street and Easington Lane.
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Hide AdKim said: “I am absolutely shocked and humbled by this award and really it is a group award.
"There is a nucleus of people involved. The church, for its support for giving us the room for free, and the parents who support the group.”
From starting with nothing – “we didn’t even have one pence” – the group has raised its own funds to finance equipment, coach trips, overnight stays, birthday cakes and Christmas presents.
Activities at its weekly meetings, which have unfortunately stopped since the pandemic, include boccia, curling, pool, bingo, arts and crafts with food and drinks also on offer.
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Hide AdKim, a full-time carer for Nathan, said: “Being a single parent, as a lot of parents with autistic children are, the isolation after you pick them up from school and go home can be awful.
"So it is lovely to have somewhere to go, to meet, to laugh and to cry together. We’ve even been able to sort out benefit problems for each other.
"It is support for the parents and a get together for the kids.”
Praising Kim for promoting independence, the Cabinet Office said: “She works really hard to make sure each session is different and relevant to all the different types of need.”