Arise, Sir James!

OK, it's not a knighthood, but he'll always be Sir James to us! James Beardwell, our Isthmian Supporter of the Year from the 2016-17 season for his efforts at Witham Town, has now been honoured by a higher authority- Her Majesty the Queen. James has been awarded the British Empire Medal for his efforts away from football, keeping the public safe and remaining continually positive in his day job at a local supermarket.

James- who these days focuses his footballing affections on England and DTFC, as well as- pre-pandemic- taking on the challenge of travelling to matches as a neutral, going as far as Guernsey for one game- spoke to the i newspaper about the honour.

“It felt really great. I didn’t expect to come up and it was a massive surprise. It brings me so much joy. It’s a great feeling to be honoured be the Queen.

I have been working really, really hard to keep lots of customers safe.

The main thing I’ve been doing is sanitising the trolley handlebars. I’ve also been sanitising the little baby seats in the trolleys to keep the little ones safe too.

I really enjoy it. When the pandemic started I thought to myself I need to remain positive and not panic.

A lot of customers had been saying to me ‘you’ve done a grand job, you’ve done a superb job’ and that felt really heart-warming. It’s still so overwhelming.”

Mr Beardwell has also been posting positive messages on social media during the pandemic.

He said: “I’m autistic and also having learning difficulties and I’m a football vlogger and YouTuber as well. When the pandemic started in March 2020 and there was lots of people panicking I thought to myself I had to do something to create plenty of positivity.

A lot of people have been saying my positivity on social media cheered them up especially when things were really tough.”

Congtatulations James- we're proud of you!

Read the i Paper article here.

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