Aidan White on a ‘bloody hell’ moment and recognition for Shirley Biro, a community champion for Newham

To those who know her well, Shirley Biro is a force of nature, Newham’s champion of community champions, and more than worthy of Royal recognition.

Recently she was awarded the British Empire Medal in the King’s Birthday Honours List for her exceptional years of service to community life in Newham.

Her reserved, quietly-spoken and bookish appearance may give the impression of someone who is shy and reticent, but decades of voluntary work and immersion in the life of her community tell another story.

Shirley is an East End girl through and through. Born in Plaistow and raised near Wanstead Flats in Forest Gate, she remembers fondly her grandfather’s dairy and horsedrawn milk-float on land where the Westfield Shopping Centre now stands.

Her father ran a sweet shop in Stepney Way in Whitechapel, making friends across the community. “Groups of both Jewish and Bangladeshi people were outside the shop when his hearse passed by after his death,” she recalls.

The teenage Shirley opted for early marriage, motherhood and a stay-at-home life. “In those days it was what was expected,” she says, “I got married at 20!” A first child lost to spina bifida cast a shadow, but two healthy daughters followed.

Shirley knew she wanted more from life. She began her voluntary work early, at school, helping to organise a fundraising dance for Oxfam and later as a young mother she helped out in mums and tots groups.

Earlier, another door had opened. After taking a job as a 16-year-old lab assistant at the BacoFoil works in Silvertown (the first girl) she discovered her love for science.

“I joined the Open University in 1974 and then went to Queen Mary’s University as a mature student, taking a BSc in genetics and bio-chemistry,” she said. Her first marriage ended around this time and she later worked at King’s College before she joined the London hospital immunology research team in Whitechapel where her career blossomed.

In 2003 she took early retirement and remarried. Shirley and her husband Andrew settled into a larger house in East Ham where she quickly established a reputation for community work.

Over the years she has become the “go to person” for work, advice and support for the voluntary and community groups scattered across Newham.

She was a Volunteer with Community Counselling – “I was always a listener” – and in 1988 she joined Conflict and Change, the UK’s first community mediation service, where she was three times the chair.

“I’ve always been inspired by people and I realise from my own experience how important it is to give people encouragement,” she says. “I always think if I did it, anybody can do it!”

She is an advocate of social prescribing, helping to promote opportunities for community support in every aspect of people’s lives. Her weekly bulletin “News from the Voluntary Sector” is essential reading for anyone who wants to get involved in the life of the Borough.

Her commitment to health care stems from lived experience, with various family members who have faced depression. She has been a staunch fighter for patients’ rights at the NHS East London Foundation Trust where she is a public governor.

At the same time, she has been a stalwart for the faith community and has recently stepped down as the Newham Deanery Lay Chair.

“I wouldn’t think of myself as ‘religious’ but I have a very strong personal faith,” she says. “I don’t always agree with the way things are done. It’s the maltreatment of others that I can’t put up with.”

This sense of solidarity with victims of injustice drives her commitment to supporting change and challenging institutions that neglect their responsibility to others.

The honour came as a surprise if not a shock. “When I received the letter I thought bloody hell, what have I done? The first thing I saw when I opened it was that there was going to be a full investigation,” she said.

In fact the letter was announcing a nomination to give her a gong and that would be confirmed after an investigation.

She insists: “I think this is something for everyone working in the voluntary sector.” She may be right, lots of others deserve recognition, but as anyone in the voluntary community will tell you, there’s only one Shirley Biro.

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.