A STALWART fundraiser from Somerset has been awarded a British Empire Medal for services to maritime safety, as part of the New Year’s Honours List. Peter Elmont has been chairman of the Weston-super-Mare fundraising branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) since 2011, having been a member for more than a decade before that. A statement from the RNLI says: "Peter is always encouraging old and new members of his committee to do more and valuable things. "He is a role model continually motivating others. "During last year’s Remembrance Day service at the war memorial, when the coastguard attendees had to rush off to answer a call, he had such respect in the town that he was asked to lay their wreath for them."