Richard Harris, honorary trustee with local charity Citizens Advice Newcastle, has been awarded the MBE in the New Year’s Honours list. The award has been made in recognition of his 22 years of service as a trustee, including ten years as Chairman.
Current Chair of Trustees Keith Reed said “We are delighted that Richard’s hard work, commitment and enthusiasm has been recognised in this way. His award is very well deserved, as he has seen the charity through some very difficult times, including funding cuts, staff redundancies, and having to move to new premises. Thanks to his sterling efforts, Citizens Advice Newcastle has gone from strength to strength, and we are now giving advice to even more people more quickly.
Shona Alexander, the charity’s Chief Executive said “Richard is a huge advocate for the Citizens Advice service. He is passionate about tackling poverty and injustice, and he cares deeply for those people who are least able to help themselves. We are all very grateful to him for his continued hard work, compassion, and for his boundless energy and great sense of humour too.”
Richard, a recently retired property surveyor, joined the Trustee board in 1995. He has devoted a huge amount of his free time to driving forward vital improvements to the charity’s services. Citizens Advice Newcastle is now based on the 4th floor of City Library, a beautiful, modern building, accessible to everyone, right in the heart of Newcastle.
All volunteers and staff at Citizens Advice Newcastle use computer tablets and mobile phones to give instant, specialist advice to the public, every day, Monday – Friday. Last year 12,735 people were helped with over 25,000 different problems.