A BICESTER man who runs a picture framing business has received an award recognising his service in the community.
Certificates were issued via post to winners of this year’s High Sheriff of Oxfordshire Awards as the ceremony due to take place on Tuesday was cancelled.
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The 23 winners - one of which was Graham Perryman, 56, who has lived in Bicester for 16 years - were awarded for doing positive work in their local areas.
Mr Perryman, who runs Dragonfly Framing, was humbled to be amongst other volunteers who have sacrificed their time for others.
He said: "It’s truly awesome to be recognised in this way. I feel extremely honoured to have even been nominated and humbled by all of the other deserving volunteers.
“It’s also so poignant, as the country goes through such unprecedented times, where so many people do so much for their communities, they all deserve great recognition for what they achieve.”
Mr Perryman has been the Bicester volunteer coordinator for Oxfordshire Artweeks - promoting, curating and organising the event each May.
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He also set up the Bicester Art Network - a non-profit organisation promoting art in the community.
Several exhibitions at Oxfordshire Youth Arts Partnership (OYAP) have been run by him and he assisted the set-up of mental health charity Oxfordshire Mind's summer exhibition in Didcot last year.
High Sheriff of Oxfordshire Sylvia Jay – Lady Jay of Ewelme, said: "Graham is a self-effacing man who thoroughly deserves recognition for the huge value he adds to the community.”
When an exhibition called Artists in the Countryside ran into difficulties, Mr Perryman was instrumental in saving it.
He physically hung the whole exhibition with another friend, created a website and online payment system and ran a six week promotion for it.
Mr Perryman has recently been nominated to be the new Chairman of Bicester Chamber of Commerce and already plans a re-launch to make it more relevant to Bicester businesses.
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