Gosport pair Malcolm Dent and Andrew Wing receive their British Empire Medals

Malcolm Dent, third left, and Andrew Wing, second right, at their BEM presentation ceremony. Picture by Tony Knight.

At a recent ceremony in Winchester, the Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Nigel Atkinson, presented BEMs (British Empire Medals) to Malcolm Dent and Andrew Wing on behalf of the King.

Both men were honoured for ‘services to the community in Gosport’.

Mr Dent is a welll-known fundraiser in the town, having organised Gosportarian events such as the Summer Festival, dog shows and the annual Christmas sleigh.

Regarding his BEM, he told The News earlier this year: “It certainly came as a bit of a shock, I wasn’t expecting it at all. I just do the things I do because I enjoy helping out – but it is certainly lovely to get some recognition.”

Gosport-born Mr Wing is the resident artist at the town’s Stoke Gallery, specialising in military silhouette artwork as well as watercolour paintings and illustrations.

The British Empire Medal was established in 1922 to replace the Medal of the Order of the British Empire and is awarded for meritorious civil or military service.

The BEM was awarded to subjects of the United Kingdom until 1992, after which time it lay in abeyance.

It was brought out of abeyance in June 2012 for Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.