Oldham resident to get British Citizen Award

Oyovwe Kigho

Oyovwe Kigho from Oldham is to be recognised with a British Citizen Award Medal of Honour in recognition of her extraordinary endeavours.

The British Citizen Award, in partnership with One Stop, is now in its fifth year and recognises exceptional individuals who positively impact their communities throughout the country.

Although the physical Medal Presentation Ceremony has been temporarily postponed due to social distancing guidelines, 25 extraordinary people are being recognised for their positive impact on society, their selfless giving, and their commitment to community. The provisional revised date for the official medal presentation is 22nd October 2020.

Oyovwe is dedicated to the cause of bereaved widows and widowers across Manchester. She created a scheme to end and combat loneliness and founded The Widows Empowerment Trust in 2017.  Since then, the organisation has helped hundreds of beneficiaries across Greater Manchester area by including them in community social activities, providing 1 on 1 befriending sessions, peer to peer support and improving their quality of life, confidence, skills and employability. 

In addition to innovative idea to mitigate the loneliness faced by the widowed, she has created a platform to help thousands of students develop their communication skills, employability and work base learning placement skills.

She has recruited more than 3500 students from University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University & Salford University to get involved in volunteering work and fundraising, helping to provide them with sense of purpose and belonging. She has also mentored of young people from National Citizen Service (NCS) during the summer, building their events management skills.

The Widows Empowerment Trust now runs three weekly wellbeing sessions, a befriending scheme, runs pampering sessions and organises special gift presentations on Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas.  It also provides weekly session for dementia sufferers, using creativity and karaoke to combat isolation and build their self- esteem.

Oyovwe has a great understanding of the social and negative implications of isolation and loneliness to health and wellbeing. She recently completed a sponsored skydive from 15,000ft, raising £4,000 for The Widows Empowerment Trust.  She volunteers in excess of 70 hours per week to the trust, also helping to feed homeless people in the area.

The medal presentation event will be hosted by TV’s Tim Vincent, with BCA Patron’s Lord Dholakia and Dame Mary Perkins, co-founder of Specsavers also in attendance. Medals will be presented by senior figures from the sponsor community which includes Experian, Places for People, Objective HR, alongside Specsavers and One Stop. 

The British Citizen Award was established in 2015, to recognise exceptional individuals who work tirelessly and selflessly to make a positive impact on society. The BCA recognises true community heroes who would otherwise likely be overlooked. Dubbed the ‘People’s Honours’, many recipients have subsequently been selected to receive a Queen’s Honour after their endeavors have been recognised with a BCA award.

Each Medal of Honour bears the words ‘For the Good of the Country’ and are presented to only a small number of exceptional individuals twice yearly. The British Citizen Award is widely viewed as the nation’s way of recognising extraordinary people for their exceptional service to the community, and are truly representative of today’s multicultural Britain.

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