MBE for helping youngsters

Tuesday February 2, 2010

He might be regularly confused with the famous military historian, but Fulham's 'other' Antony Beevor is a prominent name in his own right.

The tireless volunteer, 69, who has worked for national youth charity Fairbridge since 1972, was made an MBE for his services to young people in the latest round of New Year Honours.

Antony, who has lived with his wife Cecilia in Radipole Road for the past 20 years, said he was thrilled with his award, but added that watching dejected youngsters aged 13-25 blossom into confident, career-minded individuals was reward enough.

"Young people come to us pretty demotivated and believe the world is against them, but we see a spark in them," he said.

"We see about 3,500 young people around the country each year and we develop them to the point where they feel motivated to get vocational skills and training, and that's the main objective."

The father-of-two and grandfatherof- four, who also carved out a career for himself as a City banker, became a member of Fairbridge's executive committee in the early 90s and then chairman in 1999.

He was also instrumental, along with Fairbridge Garden Society chairwoman May Woods, in the opening of the Fulham Palace Garden Centre as a commercial fundraising site for the charity in 1993.

"We originally set it up as a possible employment prospect for some of the young people we were trying to help, but it was difficult for us to use them in a retail operation that was trying to operate in a competitive sector," Antony said.

"It's a place where you need to be able to talk knowledgeably to customers and we found that we would not be able to do that without giving the young people significant training."

So the garden centre shifted its focus to fundraising, and almost 20 years later its profits are still ploughed back into Fairbridge's range of programmes and activities.

"I think and hope that we have a reputation at the garden centre for a high-quality product, and all of the profits go to Fairbridge," he said.

"It has made a very sturdy contribution to the charity for about 20 years."

Fairbridge runs 15 centres in underprivileged, inner-city areas around the UK, including two London sites in Kennington and Hackney.

Antony said one of the charity's most important projects was its regular 'access course', which lasts about 10 days and includes activities designed to bolster young people's self-confidence and team spirit.

"They also spend at least three days in a wilderness area doing activities like canoeing or abseiling - it's pretty challenging," he added. "We want them to come back saying 'Gosh I didn't think I could do that'.

"They return on quite a high and see that life has a lot more to offer them. And we use that high to help them plan what they want to do with their lives and how they will achieve it."

As for the other Antony Beevor, who also lives just streets away in Fulham and is renowned for his books on military history such as Stalingrad, it seems the two men are distantly related and occasionally cross paths.

"People are always getting us confused!" Antony laughed. "He is a distant cousin and his older brothers were at boarding school with me in Winchester.

"He lives only about 100 yards away from me in Fulham, so we sometimes bump into each other on the street."