Graduations 2024: Four new members of our ‘family of honorands’

At last week’s Graduation ceremonies, the achievements of four respected people from the county were recognised by University of Northampton (UON) with the conferment of honorary fellowships.

Neelam Aggarwal-Singh holds an impressive working portfolio as a Founder, Director and Chief Spokesperson for many key organisations. She has worked tirelessly for over 25 years to provide outstanding leadership and services to the community and has been featured in several prestigious books and articles as a valued member of the community.

Neelam was awarded an MBE in 2013 and is a Deputy Lieutenant of Northamptonshire. She is the organiser of the Northampton Diwali Light event which happens in November each year and is recognised locally for her voluntary and community efforts, particularly with the Northamptonshire Black Communities Together initiative.

As Chief Executive Officer of Northamptonshire Sport (NSport), Chris Holmes leads the physical activity, health and wellbeing charity in the county. Chris is passionate about helping people lead a more active lifestyle and the associated benefits it can bring.

Chris was born and educated in Northampton and is a UON graduate and he and NSport have been key partners of the University over the past five years working collegiately on projects, funding research and providing opportunities for our students. Chris and his organisation’s values align with those of the University in promoting wellbeing, supporting the community, benefiting the student experience and having social impact.

For six years until 2022, Robin Burgess was Chief Executive of the Hope Group, which includes the Hope Centre, which provides a day centre and rehabilitation service for homeless and inadequately housed and socially vulnerable people.

In 1999, Robin became the Policy Lead in the Home Office focusing on communities within the National Drug Strategy Directorate where, working to ministers, he devised new, effective solutions to long-standing problems of substance misuse, as it affected the community space. His work made a real impact to reduce the harm caused by substance misuse.

Since retiring from his role, Robin has become a Non-Executive Director of Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which has responsibility for mental health services, amongst others.

In 2013, Dave Askew – now of Northamptonshire Walks – had a wake-up call. His family had witnessed his mental and physical health declining, taking action on his behalf, his wife booked him a doctor’s appointment. Dire advice from the doctor spurred Dave to address his mental health and the physical toll it was taking on his body.

Leaving his highly paid job in banking and training, inspired by advice from his daughter, Dave started walking, taking pictures and adding them to his blog. Step by Step, Dave’s mental health was improving. Along that journey, other people in Northamptonshire also began to take steps to improve their own mental health, using his catalogue of county-wide walks. In just a few years Dave had plotted over 150 walks. In 2020, he had over half a million visitors to his website.

Though his website and social media presence, Dave helps to bring mental health issues out into the open and is admirably modest about the success of his Northamptonshire Walks.