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Lehmbar Singh Lehal with the Mayor

Among the recipients was Lehmbar Singh Lehal, who鈥檚 president of Barking鈥檚听 Sikh Gurdwara. He鈥檚 lived in Dagenham for 30 years and worked at Ford for 30 years too.

Councillor Nirmal Gill who introduced Mr Lehal鈥檚 award said: 鈥淎s President of the Gurdwara he has made an outstanding voluntary contribution and has been instrumental in promoting the community as a leader, such as through organising the recent visit of Gordon Brown and Ken Livingstone.听

He has passionately supported the principles of community cohesion and has supported many events, such as the Asian Sports Tournament.鈥�

He continued 鈥淢r Lehal has been the key to supporting numerous charitable campaigns to raise substantial funds for world disasters, such as the earthquake in Pakistan and Kashmir, the cyclone in Bangladesh and recent disasters in Burma and China鈥�.

Also honoured were 12 year old Shannon Lakey from Sydney Russell Comprehensive School, and 85 year old Normandy war veteran John Quinlan. He was presented with a special Normandy badge by Mayor Councillor Emmanuel Obasohan.

Also among recipients were of awards were gong were Mark Ashman, who played a major role in cutting the burglary rates on the Gascoigne Estate, Terry Miller, manager of the Independent Living Agency; Rita Pennington, executive officer of the Daybreak Drug Project; Micaela Sharpley, a volunteer at the Drug and Alcohol Action Team, and PC Graham Mann, who was honoured for his work cutting crime in Chadwell Heath.