Pride of Tameside 2011
Eleven people were honoured for outstanding achievement at the inaugural Pride of Tameside Volunteer Awards presentation night which took place at Ashton Civic Hall on 1st June 2011.
The presentations were made by the Civic Mayor of Tameside, Cllr Susan Quinn, and the MC for the evening was Andy Hoyle, director of programming at 103.6FM Tameside Radio and presenter of the station’s afternoon show, “Tameside Today”.
Pride of Tameside originated two years ago when Tameside College launched a very successful campaign which highlighted student success stories. The theme has since been expanded to celebrate people from across the borough for their attainments in fields such as volunteering, sport and business.
Deborah Connolly - People First Tameside
Debbie has become an invaluable volunteer at People First Tameside over the past year. She sits on People First Tameside committee as secretary, is the treasurer on the drop in social club committee and supports the club weekly to ensure finances are kept up to date and any other work. Debbie promotes self and peer advocacy within the organisation, has given presentations to professionals and other members at meetings, supports groups. Debbie has grown in confidence and is respected and trusted by other members and support staff.
Irene Philips - Mencap
Irene has been volunteering with us for two years and is our ray of sunshine. Despite ongoing health problems she has dedicated her time to the Drop in Service. Irene has dedicated not only her Saturdays but also her weekdays to preparing crafts activities and patiently and painstakingly helps make hand crafted cards with our members. Her energy is astonishing and her heart is as big as her smile. We are all very proud to not only have Irene as a part of our Volunteering team but also as our friend Auntie Irene.
Ed McConniffe - Body Positive Northwest
Ed is one of our founding members and has been on our board; he does the medical student training and turns up every week to do the Point of Care Testing Clinic (community HIV testing). Ed is a tower of strength and is extremely knowledgably about HIV.
Adam Whitfield - Wooden Canal Boat Society
Adam has worked at the WCBS charity shop since late 2009. He has trained as a PAT tester and has diligently tested donated electrical goods for us during that time and has lent a hand with anything we ask him to do. He has worked patiently and kindly with vulnerable volunteers and he is well liked by everyone in the charity.
Paul Kitchen & Sam Hudson - Citizen's Advice Bureau
Both came to us on placements through the Future Jobs Fund scheme in September 2010. After a successful 6 months on placement they have both stayed with the bureau, in a voluntary capacity, continuing to attend virtually every day the bureau is open, and offering a range of skills in addition to those learned through the placement. They have contributed greatly and shown huge commitment to the bureau in the time they have been with us, and for this we would like to nominate them for the outstanding achievement awards.
Joanne Bramley - Anxiety UK
Joanne has been with Anxiety UK for just over 2 years, when she began her time with us she was living with debilitating social anxiety and panic disorder, and really struggled coming into the office. Her first shift she even had a panic attack and battled her feelings about leaving. Since then she has proved herself to be a courageous individual, attending 2 full days a week and has attended every week, no matter how her mental health has fluctuated. The thing I admire most about Joanne is her willingness to confront her anxiety problems, and put herself in situations that would have been unthinkable before her time here - she has become a service user consultant on a postgraduate degree in Manchester, and last year even spoke at a conference with me to over 200 people.
Khyati Patel - Tameside BME Women's Network
Khyati has been a volunteer since November 2009. She initially attended the Women’s Network meetings because of a keen interest in the issues affecting BME women in Tameside. By May 2010, Khyati’s interest in these matters had increased prompting her to put herself forward to become the Representative of Tameside BME Women to the Culture and Community Cohesion Partnership at Tameside Council, giving the meetings a race and gendered perspective. Her dedication and devotion to the network enabled her make a successful application on behalf of the Women’s network to host the Centenary celebrations of International Women’s Day in Ashton in March this year.
Christine Clough - Friends of Gorse Hall & Tameside History Forum
Christine has been nominated for this award in recognition of the work she does to ensure the environment in Tameside is open and accessible to all. She has been volunteering for Friends of Gorse Hall since 1998. Chris works tirelessly to arrange things like Murder walks and archaeological digs as well as working with local schools to make sure that local children are aware of the history on their doorsteps. Chris is always cheerful and passionate about her work despite numerous personal setbacks.
Gareth Cottrell - Tameside Radio
Gareth has been volunteering with Tameside Radio since in 2004 when he was 16, having an involvement with all Tameside Radio’s trial broadcasts. During the last 18 months he has hosted the Weekend Wireless, with his brother Fraser, broadcasting 2 hours each day on the early breakfast, producing the breakfast show and supporting other volunteers with training and studio support. In July 2010 Gareth and the Weekend Wireless team challenged themselves to walk the coast of Anglesey and raise money for Cancer Research. Broadcasting each day to the Tameside Radio audience they set themselves a target of £1000. Over the course of the walk they raised over £4,300.