Rutland retired major receives British Empire Medal for services to the Army

A retired major received a British Empire Medal for his services to the British Army and associated charities.

Martyn Pocock, who lives in Barrow, near Cottesmore, received the medal from Lord Lieutenant of Rutland, Dr Sarah Furness, during a ceremony at Oakham Castle.

He was named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours six months ago.

Dr Furness said: “Martyn has done much work with military charities.

“He created a new military charitable trust following the charity commission’s recommended governance model which provided an exemplar for modern military charities.

“He has represented the Army Association on the Service Charities Executive committee where he challenged orthodox thinking and brought to life the needs of the veteran community – something which we particularly value in Rutland with our large veterans community.”

Martyn has also volunteered as chairman of the Cavalry and Guards Club throughout the challenges of Covid, keeping it open for exclusive use by key workers and serving officers.

He also supports the Museum of the Scots Dragoon Guards.

Martyn described himself as ‘thrilled’ to receive notification of the award.

At the time he said: “Lots of people do plenty of work for charity and in my work I have been part of a team, so I feel huge privilege to have been singled out for this award.”