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11 Mar 2026
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11 Mar 2026
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Cyril Bennis photographed on a visit back home to Limerick where he is a regular visitor | PICTURE: Adrian Butler
A LIMERICK man who lives in William Shakespeare’s hometown is to be honoured by King Charles.
Cyril Bennis hails from Fairgreen in Limerick city, but has lived for the past 45 years in Stratford-upon-Avon with his American wife Roxanne.
In that time, he has led efforts to protect the swan population, bring in a cinema and skate park, and introduce more public toilets in the Warwickshire town, which is in the English west midlands.
READ MORE: Urgent call for Limerick people to help with critically low blood stock supplies
He is also a three-time mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon, and a former Liberal Democrats councillor.
Now his efforts have led him to be honoured in King Charles’s new years’ list.
Cyril has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for “meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown”.
“Can you imagine, a man from the Fairgreen becoming a BEM,” Cyril smiled. “To be honest, I was gobsmacked. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d get anything. You put yourself out there to put something back into the community if you have time to do it. And it obviously has been recognised.”
Cyril now has a date at a garden party in Buckingham Palace this summer.
Before that, he will be honoured with a ceremony from His Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire.
Cyril is one of only a handful of Irish people to be given a BEM, and uniquely as an Irish citizen, the British government had to secure clearance from Ireland to award it.
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