King's Birthday Honour for Wimbledon Man
Simon Otter's work during the pandemic recognised with award of the BEM
Simon Otter. Picture: Twitter
June 19, 2023
A 48-year-old man from Wimbledon has been named in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours List.
Simon Otter has received the British Empire Medal for services to the community in Wimbledon particular during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Having served for nine years as an officer in the British Army he left to start a career in financial services which has lasted 14 years.
During this time, he has raised money for charities through his participation in marathons and endurance events.
For the last 11 years, he has been a volunteer coach at the Old Wimbledon Warriors Rugby Club.
During the height of the pandemic, he mobilised and ran a team of 45 volunteers who together with partners, were preparing and delivering more than 1,000 free meals per day.
He was also instrumental in getting more than 22,000 free meals prepared and delivered to the NHS frontline in 7 regional hospitals across South West London and Surrey.
In May 2020 he formed a partnership with 3 local Marks and Spencer’s stores with the aim of providing their surplus food to key workers and the vulnerable. This necessitated 14 evening collections per week. Furthermore, on receipt of a donation of over 1 ton of cake mix, he galvanised 750 households in 48 hours to bake over 25,000 muffins over a 10-day period. These were delivered to the NHS, other key workers and the vulnerable.
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