He’s won with this year’s Excellence in Care Award from Lincolnshire Freemasons, given to the man who has done the most to make lives better for people in our communities.
Scunthorpe-based Rob, who’s been a Freemason since 2022, was given the award at the Lincolnshire Provincial Grand Lodge meeting in Lincoln, where hundreds were told of his pro bono work over decades.
Rob has a degree in psychotherapy, and has used that to build and sustain three self-help groups for addicts in Bridlington, Beverley, and Hornsea; to support more than 150 serving and retired Royal Marines, for which he’s been given honorary membership of 42 Commando; and to support NHS staff who want to, in Rob’s words, ‘vent their anguish’. This year he has helped almost 120 of them.
The Yorkshire self-help groups have been running for almost 20 years, and were created because of Rob's belief that what needed support was addiction in general, rather than addiction to just one thing, such as alcohol or gambling.
His work for the Marines arose from a failed attempt to join in the 1980s, when he formed a friendship with another trainee. Rob helped him through his problems, and word spread from there.