September is World Alzheimer’s Month and with that in mind we have chosen Vicky McClure as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month. 

Vicky is an English actress, model and presenter. She is known for her roles as Detective Inspector Kate Fleming in the BBC series Line of Duty and Lol Jenkins in Shane Meadows’ film This Is England and its Channel 4 sequel mini-series This Is England ’86, This Is England ’88 and This Is England ’90. Before This is England, she appeared in another of Meadows’ films, A Room for Romeo Brass, where she played Ladine. She won the RTS Award and British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Lol in This is England ’86 in 2011.

McClure is also well known for her role as Karen White in Broadchurch, and other roles such as in Filth and Wisdom, Hummingbird, Svengali and The Replacement.

Vicky has supported the Alzheimer’s Society for many years and became an Ambassador in honour of her grandmother, Iris, who had dementia.

She is synonymous with the Memory Walk, having attended every walk in her native Nottingham since 2011, using her voice to encourage as many people as possible to sign-up to their local walk and raise funds to support the Society.  

She is passionate about the power of music to support people affected by dementia, presenting the BAFTA-nominated BBC documentary, Our Dementia Choir, and recently attended a virtual Singing for the Brain service to highlight the support available from Alzheimer’s Society during the coronavirus lockdown. 

In 2022, McClure made a further BBC documentary featuring other Dementia gatherings and musical support groups from elsewhere in the UK, and brought her own Dementia Choir to perform with Tom Grennan before 20,000 spectators at the Splendour Festival held in Nottingham’s Wollaton Hall grounds.

Vicky was appointed an MBE in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to drama and to charity.

To find out more about World Alzheimer’s Month see here

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-involved/world-alzheimers-month

To find out more about Vicky see here

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0566049/bio/

Diabetes Awareness Week runs from 12 – 18 June and with this in mind we have chosen Adam Smith as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Adam is a Sky Sports presenter whose roles include hosting his own weekly show Saturday Social as well as presenting Kings of the Premier League on Friday evenings and The Debate.

He also conducts regular weekly interviews with some of the biggest names in the Premier League as well as co-hosting regular shows on TalkSport radio.

Adam has also hosted a string of live events including presenting KSI vs Logan Paul from Los Angeles, the opening ceremony for the first ever game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and hosting a special one off event for Queen Elizabeth’s 90th Birthday at Windsor Castle.

Adam is a Celebrity Support for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2015 and says it has “completely changed his life”. Adam has a large fan base on social media and has supported several of JDRF’s campaigns, including the type 1 myth-busting campaign during Diabetes Week and the BBC Lifeline Appeal. He is committed to raising awareness of type 1 diabetes, to dispel any stigma and misinformation about the condition and to help JDRF support and inspire everyone in the type 1 community.

Find out more about Diabetes Awareness Week see here https://www.diabetes.org.uk/diabetes-week

April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and with that in mind we have chosen Vicky Fleetwood as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Vicky is a woman of many talents; a former junior hurdler, a personal trainer and a Rugby World Cup winner. She was also part of England’s bronze medal winning sevens squad in the 2018 Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast, she is also a diet and nutrition adviser

Vicky began playing at age 14 after tiring of watching her brother play. She moved to Saracens from Lichfield after the Women’s World Cup in 2014, where she made six appearances. Despite making her Red Roses debut in August 2011 at the age of 21, Vicky had raced to 50 caps by July 2015. She played the 2017 Women’s World Cup and made three appearances off the bench including in the final against New Zealand. Vicky moved to the England Sevens programme for a year in 2017/18 but in 2019 she returned to XVs. She also played in the Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam win that year. She was unavailable for England’s 2019 Super Series campaign due to injury but returned for the start of 2019/20. Vicky was named ‘Player of the Match’ in November’s Quilter International against Italy and shone in the 2020 Six Nations, crossing against Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

She is currently also the Director of Rugby at Old Colfeians Rugby Club in Lee South East London.

Vicky is a Patron for Bowel Cancer UK, she is determined to help raise awareness of the symptons having lost her mother to the disease in 2016 at the age of 62.

To find out more about Vicky see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Fleetwood To find out more about Bowel Cancer Awareness Month see here https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/