A Co Fermanagh man who picked up an MBE in the New Year’s Honours has said he accepted the award on behalf of carers who look after those in the local community.
Pat McGurn, the chief executive of Lakeland Community Care, has been involved with the not-for-profit organisation for the last 18 years.
LCC provides domiciliary care and day care to rural parts of Fermanagh and Tyrone, and in 2015 opened a £1.7million healthy living centre in Belcoo which provides services to the local community.
READ MORE: Full list of Northern Ireland's New Year's Honours from Fermanagh and Tyrone
Pat says while he had received a visit some years ago when the honour was first proposed, the news still came as a shock when it was confirmed last month.
“It was proposed about four years ago, but I hadn’t heard anything since and it was only at the end of November when I got an email to say it,” Pat told MyFermanagh.
“It came all of a sudden, I accepted it on behalf of the group. It’s not about me, it’s about Lakeland Community Care and the workers and carers that are on the ground doing the work.
“We originally set up to provide day care in rural Fermanagh and then that progressed into doing domiciliary care too.
“About six or seven years ago we were lucky to get the award for Fermanagh and Omagh.
“We’ve also established a healthy living centre here in Belcoo, which cost about £1.7million, funded by some grants and our own resources.
“We have got this fantastic facility now in Belcoo with exercise classes, women’s groups, Men’s Shed and different things.”
An accountant by trade, Pat said he was only supposed to join the organisation on a temporary basis, but is still involved almost two decades later.
“It’s been a community-based success I would say,” Pat added.
“I came here 18 years ago to do the accounts end of it, but I was here three or four months when our manager left so the board asked me to take it on.
“We do have people in the organisation who have been recognised with an MBE before but this is the first as recognition for the work we do here, so we are all very pleased.”
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