Motiovational Leaders Among Us All!!

Inspirational leaders come through our lives and sometimes we don't feel how amazing they really are until you like back on your life. The gentleman who had an massive impact on my developing was Stan "the man" Norris M.B.E who worked voluntary for 60 years and helped so many people in our valley. Stan helped me when things were tough in school and my confidence was shattered by comments from the teachers who supposed to have given me the confidence. He also entered my life again, when I went through depression in 2011 and become a team making sure football teams were set up in our Ogmore Valley..

The former coal miner dedicated nearly 60 years’ service to the Wyndham Boys’ and Girls’ Club in Ogmore Vale and was honoured in the Queen’s 2007 honours list for his services to young people.

Rob Norris the youngest of six children said..

“He would do anything for anyone. They say they don’t make them like they used to and he is a brand of person that will never come around again.

“He had given his life to making sure his family was provided for.

“He was a fantastic youth leader and sports coach and an all-round gent. Nothing was too big or too small for him.”

Born in London, Stan moved to Alma Terrace, Ogmore Vale, during the war and settled in the valley.

He worked 37 years in the pits and in January 1952 first became involved in the Wyndham Boys’ and Girls’ Club.

Sixty years later, the grandfather-of-eight and great grandfather-of-one was still as heavily involved as ever – still a regular sight marking football pitches or pegging nets for the Boys’ and Girls’ Club’s football matches in Ogmore Vale.

“He would put in a 12-hour shift underground but he wouldn’t go home, he’d go straight down the Boys’ and Girls’ Club,” said Robert, 31.

“It is a huge loss. He did so much work for the club and trying to emulate that is going to be impossible.

“Right up until two weeks ago he was dragging the nets out for the football.”

Stan touched the lives of thousands of youngsters during his 59 years with the Boys’ and Girls’ Club and in 2008 he was awarded an MBE by the Queen for his long-standing contribution to life in the Ogmore Valley.

It is said that on picking up his award, he told Her Majesty Elizabeth II that he had been doing youth work as long as she had been on the throne.

Speaking three years ago after accepting his award, Stan said: “It’s for my wife Connie, everyone who has ever been involved with the club and the Ogmore Valley too.”

Paying tribute to his friend, Ogmore Vale councillor Ralph Shepherd, 59, said: “He was there at the youth club when I went there as a boy and that was 40 years ago.

“He is a true legend in the valley and has been an institution for generations of children in the area.