MBE's for two of the RPMF Trustees in 2010

The year 2010 proved to be a remarkable one for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund! With the grants made in January we realised our aim of giving away over £1 Million to the sport by the time the 2012 Olympic Games were held in London. As if in celebration of this fact one of our former grant recipients, Andrew Lemoncello, was first British runner home in the 2010 London Marathon and also the Great North Run later in the year.

However, the celebrations began when the New Year's Honours list was announced and included news of the award of the MBE to Jean Pickering for Services to Athletics and the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund. David Coleman OBE reacted with: "Well deserved. Not before time!" Stuart Storey added his congratulations and said "Having sat alongside Ron for so many years commentating for the BBC, I know how pleased and proud he would have been at this news."

It gave Jean the chance to arrange a special day at Buckingham Palace with her three grandchildren in February when she was presented with the award by the Queen, who commented about the Fund and added that "our athletes can do with all the help they can get these days."    

There were more celebrations to come when the Queen's Birthday Honours list was announced. This time it was John Lister, a Trustee of the Fund, who was awarded the MBE for Services to Athletics.

Apart from his valuable support of Ron's Fund, travelling from his home in Wales to Welwyn to attend all our meetings bar one, he has gained a wealth of experience in the sport as a competitor and administrator at Club, Welsh, UK and European level for over 50 years.  

A chartered accountant by profession, John is still an active official of Cardiff AAC and was a former Treasurer of our governing body for 13 years. He also served as UK representative on the Council of the European AA for 12 years and was their delegate responsible for the organisation of the European Athletics Championships in Munich 2001 and Gothenburg 2006.

John collected his award from the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace on November 19th, and was accompanied by his wife Mary, his sister and brother-in-law.