A Sheffield community worker has a received a royal stamp of approval from the Queen after going to collect his MBE.
Muhammad Iqbal from Burngreave, who was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s honours list for devoting much of his life to making Burngreave a better place to live, finally enjoyed his big day – a trip to Buckingham Palace.
Mr. Iqbal, who went to London with his wife, son and granddaughter, said: “I am so proud to receive this honour. It really is a dream come true for me and my family – we had a lovely day down in London and to meet the Queen was a privilege. It was an immensely exciting day.”
“Thank you to all my colleagues at Burngreave New Deal for Communities who nominated me.”
Mr. Iqbal stepped onto English soil from his native Pakistan over 40 years ago when he was just 29 and looking for work. In 1979 he moved to the Burngreave area of Sheffield and soon realised there was a need for a united forum to bring the community together. He set this up and then worked tirelessly to bring funding to the area and improve the services on offer to local people.
In 1999, Burngreave received £52m from the Government to form Burngreave New Deal for Communities (BNDfC) – a ten year regeneration programme. Mr. Iqbal became the first Chair of the BNDfC Partnership Board.
As Mr. Iqbal, now vice-chair of BNDfC explains, he is very passionate about the area he has lived in for 25 years.
He said “Together we are working towards achieving our mission to improve Burngreave. I can see the results of our hard work and Burngreave’s reputation is getting better and better. I now work hard to keep the momentum going as we are now in the sixth year of the New Deal programme.”
John Clark, Chief Executive of BNDfC, said: “We are thrilled for Mr. Iqbal and so pleased that all his efforts over the years to put something back into his community have been recognised in this way. He really is a shining beacon for Burngreave!”