South Yorkshire Times and Express – Saturday 3 January 1953

B.E.M. Award for Wath

MRS. BLANCHE STEPHENSON, housewife, of Torleigh, Festival Road, Wath, receives a B.E.M. for her work in national savings in Wath.

She started as a street group secretary in 1940, and six years later took over the organisation of all the groups in Wath.

She now runs four large groups in that district.

She is also a member of the West Riding South East Constituency Savings Committee, and represents this body’s eleven smaller committees on a Regional Advisory Sub-Committee. During the six years she has served on the Constituency Committee, Mrs. Stephenson has not missed a meeting.

She is also the leader of a “Commando” team that operates in all districts in the area to form more street groups. On a recent twelve-day drive, she and her team formed 97 new groups—20 of them in Mexborough.

Mrs. Stephenson is the W.V.S. central organiser in Wath, and since 1949 has run the W.V.S. mobile library and the Darby and Joan Club.

Mrs. Blanche Stephenson’s British Empire Medal (B.E.M.) was announced in the 1953 New Year Honours, where she was recognised as Honorary Collector, Street Savings Groups, Wath-on-Dearne, Yorkshire.