Diocesan News
Two recipients of King’s Birthday Honours from Clogher Diocese
Two recipients of King’s Birthday Honours in Clogher Diocese are involved in their churches and charities in the local community.
Brigadier John Graham, who is well–known as a member of St. Macartin’s Cathedral choir in Enniskillen and a Deputy Lieutenant for Fermanagh, has been made an OBE.
He said he was delighted to receive such a prestigious honour.
Brigadier Graham is now living back home in his native Enniskillen with his wife, Helen, after a formidable career in military and public health.
Following his education at Portora Royal School, he studied medicine at Queen’s University and worked in the Royal Victoria Hospital’s Casualty Department before serving as a doctor in three wars, the Falklands War and both Gulf Wars.
His role in the Falklands War was to run part of the hospital on the SS Canberra.
It was while working on SS Canberra that Brigadier Graham met his future wife, Helen, then the ship’s accountant. They married two years later.
After the first Gulf War he was the first doctor to enter Kuwait City where he coordinated the international humanitarian response and re–opened hospitals which had been closed during the occupation.
He was the medical commander in the Second Gulf War, built the medical brigade which supported the 1st Armoured Division during the war–fighting phase and then led the humanitarian response which ensured that the health sector was the only part of the Iraqi civilian infrastructure which did not collapse.
He was posted to the British Embassy in Washington DC for three years to promote collaboration between American and British politicians and policy makers before returning to Germany where he became chief executive of the British Forces Overseas health service which provided care for personnel and their families from Lisbon to Izmir and Stavanger to Naples.
He was awarded the Mitchiner Medal by the Royal College of Surgeons for having done most to promote military medicine and he was appointed Honorary Physician to HM The Queen. He is also an Honorary Steward of Westminster Abbey.
But Brigadier Graham continues to serve his community being elected Chairman of the Board of Brooke House Health and Wellbeing Centre at Colebrooke which provides care for military and police veterans who have suffered as a result of their service for others.
Brigadier Graham and his wife have two daughters.
The second recipient is Mrs Genevieve Irvine, a cancer sufferer from Enniskillen who spearheaded the establishment of a support charity for fellow sufferers. She receives the BEM for founding the charity SWELL (Supported We Live Life) and for services to people affected by cancer in County Fermanagh.
“It’s recognition for the charity and I do feel really honoured and thankful for the person who nominated me,” she said of the award.
Genevieve and her husband Nigel and family are members of Rossorry Parish Church which earlier this year organised an Easter Tree where donations for messages were donated to SWELL.
This latest award is another highlight of the year for Genevieve. She was awarded the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee champion, invited to the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey and during the King and Queen’s recent visit to Enniskillen, she was invited to represent the charity at Enniskillen Castle.
This positive time in her life is in stark contrast to the dark days she suffered after she was diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer in 2015. While having to make long journeys to help with her rehabilitation she chatted with a friend, who was also diagnosed, about setting up a support service locally. SWELL was born and their premises at Cross Street, Enniskillen, is now a beacon for fellow cancer sufferers.
After just opening for a few years, the SWELL centre has now over 500 service users, availing of the many services available five days a week and during three late evenings. The charity is open not only to those who have been diagnosed with cancer, but also members of their families and carers.
Genevieve is promoting the ethos of her charity by become an advocate for cancer sufferers She is part of a European–wide patient advocacy programme and will be travelling to Istanbul in the autumn for a conference.
Genevieve and Nigel have three sons, Warwick, Tully and Quillan.
For further information please contact:
Diocesan Communications Officer, Clogher
07708 869823
Mr Brian Donaldson
clogherdco@btinternet.com