Suzanne Richards lost her son Joel, 19, brother Adrian, 49, and father, Pat, 78, in the 2015 terrorist attack in Sousse, Tunisia. Her other son Owen, then 16, was also shot and injured by the gunmen but survived the attack in which 38 people were killed.
Their memories live on in the Smile for Joel charity, supporting families who are victims of homicide, which she and Owen run from her home in Wednesbury, West Midlands.
Today, her charity work is recognised with an MBE as she becomes one of hundreds honoured for their work in the community.
“It was really hard trying to get through what had happened. After losing three people, to have to fly out to Tunisia to identify them, it was just horrific. We had so much support from the community and family and friends that after talking to case workers from Victim Support we realised that other families across the UK aren’t getting the helping hand we had and we wanted to do something.”
Smile for Joel has so far helped more than 1,000 family members working through Victim Support, and has raised more than £500,000 to pay for counselling, holiday breaks and practical help in other ways. It also works with the Foreign Office and travel industry to raise awareness of holiday safety, especially the issue of hotel security.
“My heart goes out to the families in Nottingham this week,” she said. “I know what dark road they will be on now. We will be there as a charity to support them when they are ready.”
She was “overwhelmed” by her MBE, and believes her son, brother and father would be “so proud”. “But it’s bittersweet. I got this because I lost them. If I could change it I would rather have them here. But I can’t. So this is for them.”
‘I wanted to help male dancers who were getting bullied’
At 18, Junior Jay Frood, a dancer and a student in Liverpool, is the youngest recipient, receiving a BEM (British Empire Medal) for his work in campaigning against bullying after being bullied himself when he was younger because he was a dancer.
“My passion was dancing, so I kept going,” he said. “But when I got older I wanted to help people who felt like me, who were male dancers and who were getting bullied.”
He created a social media campaign #boyscandance, and began raising money for charities. Frood has supported musical artists such as Justin Bieber and Little Mix, and has performed at the Royal Albert Hall and on the West End stage.
‘The aim is for a shared society’
Roisin Marshall from Belfast receives an OBE (Order of the British Empire) as CEO of the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education, whose mission is to promote reconciliation through integration. Despite some opposition, often from politicians, churches and some sections of the community, the numbers of those in integrated education schools for Catholics and Protestants has doubled since the Good Friday agreement. The aim is for “a shared society and not a shared out society,” she said. “For me, it is the most cost effective, successful community reconciliation project in Northern Ireland.”
A ‘woman-to-woman, mother-to-mother’ buddy system
Dr Alice Good, from Northumberland, who is receiving an MBE, is the founder of Sunflower Sisters, a buddy system – “woman-to-woman, mother-to-mother” – set up to support Ukrainian refugees after they arrive in the UK. Going forward, as sponsorship schemes end, she said, many women were being forced to return to Ukraine because they were unable to get rental properties in the UK.
“They don’t have guarantors, they don’t have six months rent upfront,” she said. She called on the government to “work with councils to provide some sort of guarantor system”.
