As he collects an OBE, Griff Rhys Jones says: “This recognition is for all civic societies”
President of Civic Voice, Griff Rhys Jones was honoured on Thursday with an OBE for services to the National Civic Society Movement, charities and entertainment. Speaking after the presentation by Prince William, Griff Rhys Jones OBE said:
"I am so pleased that the citation for this award recognised, in good measure, my association with Civic Voice. I have been your president for ten years. That was an honour. This is a further honour. But I feel I honoured again to be able to accept it on behalf of all the people who work within the civic movement - sometimes in the name of conservation, but also to manage change and to help create better places for communities to live and work. I have seen for myself how continuous and unflinching that work has to be. I do very little of that. You do. If I am a figurehead, however, let me continue to say to all the members, this is for you and the good offices you perform. Not enough recognition is afforded to amenity societies. Many fail to understand the good work that they do. I have often said that I am proud to be involved in my own back yard. Who else should be, or would be? I don't think of it as a "yard". I think of it as a garden and one that needs tending, a bit of weeding and some regular slog - as every garden does. The members of Civic Voice do that very thing - in cities and towns and villages across England. And I hope that in the citation for this award will help recognise that. My job to publicise that tell everybody about a success story. I want to continue to do that.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank everybody who wrote to offer their good wishes.
Griff Rhys Jones OBE.