Paula Beddoe Wins the Different Strokes Peter Shave Volunteer of the Year 2026 Award
- Mez Khan
At Different Strokes, we are proud to announce that Paula Beddoe has been named the Peter Shave Volunteer of the Year 2026, in recognition of a decade of dedication to stroke survivors in Tipton, West Midlands. Her story began with a poster, a carton of milk, and a first meeting attended by just three people.
It was in 2016 that Paula first met Ileen, the founder of the Tipton stroke support group, when Ileen came into the Asda store where Paula worked at the time as a community champion, hoping to put up a poster. Paula did not just put up the poster – she offered to share it on the store’s Twitter account, and then turned up to the first meeting with tea, coffee, milk, and biscuits.
“That’s really how it all started,” she says. “Just keeping Ileen company and popping in every month with a carton of milk and some bits and pieces.”
Paula became fully embedded in the life of the group, quietly helping with whatever was needed while Ileen led the sessions.
When Ileen passed away a couple of years after founding the group, it would have been entirely understandable for things to fall apart. Instead, Paula stepped up. She has run the Tipton group ever since.
What makes her dedication all the more remarkable is that she has never had a stroke herself. She volunteers not from personal experience of the condition, but from an instinctive commitment to the people in front of her.
“I don’t think stroke survivors often realise what they can do,” she says. “The human body and mind are amazing things – you can overcome so much. Sometimes you just need other people there to give you the confidence to try.”
That belief has shaped everything about how Paula runs the group. She brings in speakers – from outreach advisers to first-year speech therapy students from Birmingham University – and organises social outings to the local races and meals out. When someone struggles with a pharmacy phone call, Paula sits with them. When a Blue Badge appeal involves a 23-page form, she works through it beside them, however long it takes.
The impact on members’ lives can be profound. Paula describes one member who arrived feeling isolated and overwhelmed after their stroke, convinced that life as they knew it – travelling, socialising, even simple everyday interactions – might no longer be possible.
Through the group, they slowly rebuilt their confidence, supported not just by Paula but by other stroke survivors and carers who understood exactly what they were going through. What began with conversations around the table eventually became holidays abroad, football matches, independence, and a renewed belief that life after stroke could still be full and meaningful.
The group has grown to around twelve regular members, and what Paula values most is watching what happens between them. Members share practical tips and lived knowledge and new ways of approaching familiar things. They rally around one another when someone is unwell, fundraise together, and look out for those who find it harder to get out. It is peer support in the truest sense: not something delivered, but something that flows in every direction.
“Everyone has contributed something, even if it’s simply coming in and being cheerful,” Paula says. “I want to thank our members, because they are the heart of the group.”
Now, ten years on, that spirit of stepping up has come full circle. Bob, a stroke survivor and long-standing group member, has recently taken on a volunteering role, helping to run the fortnightly sessions the members themselves requested.
Alongside her volunteering, Paula works full-time as a support worker for Murray Hall Community Trust on the Sandwell Community Offer Plus project. Both roles draw on the same instinct: to find practical ways to help people navigate things that can feel overwhelming.
She also volunteers with CPR Counts – a cause that is personal. Around eleven years ago, Paula survived a cardiac arrest; CPR saved her life. The peer support she found in the aftermath shaped her understanding of why groups like this one matter so much.
“I think when Ileen came to me, that resonated,” she says. “I know what it’s like to have questions and not know who to ask. And if sharing any of this makes one person feel like they can do something, then that’s enough for me.”
When Austin, our CEO, rang to tell Paula she had won the award, she was stunned.
“I was a bit shell-shocked – which for anyone who knows me is saying something, because I don’t usually stop talking! When I put the phone down, I just cried.”
With Bob now sharing the volunteering load, Paula feels the group is in a good place going into its next chapter. But she has no plans to step away.
“I’d always like to think I’ll be there somewhere,” she says.
Caroline Saunders, Outreach Manager at Different Strokes, said: “Paula first came along to support Ileen at the very first Tipton meeting and quickly became a fierce advocate for both Ileen and the group. She empowered Ileen, helped with whatever needed to be done, and was always there when support was needed. When Ileen died, the fact that Paula stepped up to keep the group going was incredible, and the fact that it is still thriving ten years later is even more remarkable. Paula cares so deeply and selflessly about stroke survivors and works tirelessly to support people in the area. She is truly one of a kind.”
Everyone at Different Strokes would like to congratulate Paula on being such a worthy recipient of the Peter Shave Volunteer of the Year Award 2026, and to thank her for ten years of warmth, humour and unwavering dedication.
