Acton Firefighter and Former England Footballer Wins Honour
Kimberley Jerray-Silver given British Citizen Award
Kimberley Jerray-Silver.
Picture: BCA
July 9, 2025
An Acton firefighter who is also a former England football international is to visit the Palace of Westminster later this month to receive an award.
47-year-old Kimberley Jerray-Silver is a recipient of the British Citizen Award (BCA) Medal of Honour for Services to Community (BCAc). These are sometimes known as the Peoples Honours and, as with an MBE or OBE, she will be entitled to signify her achievement by using the initials of the award after her name.
Kim has worked for London Fire Brigade since 2004 and organises the regular community events at Acton Fire Station including quarterly tea parties to help combat loneliness in the area as well as Halloween parties for children. Important fire safety information is shared on these occasions. She has worked in partnership with Ealing Council and Ealing Community Transport to ensure isolated residents can get to the events. Over 1,500 residents attended events she organised last year.
Before becoming a firefighter, she had played football including for Arsenal Ladies between 1996 and 1999. She was one of the first female professional footballers in Europe and played for a hugely successful Fulham Ladies team between 2000 to 2003 winning the treble in her final year with the club. Her penalty secured victory in the Nationwide League Cup final against Arsenal Ladies. She was chosen to play for England during the Women’s qualifying stages of the Euros in 1997 against Portugal at Griffin Park. During this time Kim lost her father to cancer and immediately stepped up to care for her Mum and Sister.
In 2020, she was recognised with the “Bright Light” award by the Women’s Fire Service Association (WFS) for her dedication to elderly people in her local community. Judges noted her as someone who “lives and breathes” the London Fire Brigade—a compassionate role model. She was among the first on the scene at Edgware Road during the 7 July London bombings in 2005.
The ceremony will be taking place on Thursday 24 July and will be hosted by TV presenter Matt Allwright in the presence of BCA Patrons Dame Mary Perkins, co-founder of Specsavers, and The Rt Hon Lord Dholakia. Following the ceremony, Kim and the 26 other medallists receiving their awards will enjoy an Open Top Lap of Honour tour to celebrate.
Stephanie Wood from BCA Partner One Stop commented, "This year's medallists exemplify the incredible support within our communities, especially during challenging times. We're honoured to partner with the BCA and play a part in recognising these exceptional individuals."
Value Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |