Awards Evening: 26th April 2012, Alban Arena
Community-minded groups and individuals who have gone the extra mile for others have been honoured in this year’s Mayor’s Pride Awards which took place on Thursday 26th April at the Alban Arena.
The Awards Evening was packed with incredible stories of kindness, bravery and community spirit. Among the winners were Charlotte Wilmer-Barbrook who won the Local Hero Award for setting up Hertfordshire Post Natal Illness Support and Graham Lane who was named Community Champion of the Year for his work with the Chamber of Commerce and St Albans Business Against Crime.
For the full results, including group shots from each awards category, visit the Winners and Runners Up 2012 page.
The Voluntary Sector Award went to Wacky Wheels, an activity group set up and run by young physically disabled people and Bradley Glover, a student at Sandringham School, was presented with the Young Person of Distinction Award for helping to promote and communicate the student voice across the school.
The Mayor’s Pride Awards aim to celebrate local people and groups for their achievements and work in the community and individuals who have shown immense strength in the face of adversity. They are organised and delivered by St Albans City and District Council, in association with the Herts Advertiser and St Albans District Centre for Voluntary Service (CVS).
A judging panel, including the Mayor of St Albans City and District, selected the winners for nine of the awards from nominations made by members of the public. In addition the Mayor, Cllr Aislinn Lee, chose to present the Mayor’s Recognition Award to Watling View School for the work it does in helping pupils achieve their true potential and showing others what a great contribution they can make within our community.
Cllr Aislinn Lee, the Mayor of St Albans City and District, said: “I have never felt so privileged, never felt so humble and never felt so proud than I did at the Mayor’s Pride Awards. To be given the opportunity to acknowledge, publicly, the overwhelmingly generous nature of so many of our community and to be able to thank personally so many exceptional individuals or groups, who by their actions make the lives of others so much better and who quietly and without a thought for personal thanks or recognition give so much of themselves for their community, was by far the greatest honour for me during my Mayoral year.”
The Mayor continued: “During this year, I have certainly recognised that what makes St Albans City and District so very special is its people. The judges had the most difficult task of selecting a winner from each category. The choices were impossible and with so many amazing finalists we wanted to present awards to everyone, but we just could not do that. The standard was so very high and the competition so great. When we say ‘every finalist is a winner’ we are totally sincere.”
To view the full the Event Programme from the Awards Evening, simply click on the image below:
Young Person of Distinction was won by Bradley Glover,
pictured here with runners up Jenna Hoyte (left) and Sophie Bryan (right)
The Mayor also used the evening to honour two young people, who were invited as special guests. Cllr Lee said: “These exceptional young ladies joined me on stage to help present an award: Louise who raised considerable sums of money for charities personal to her and Sadi who, despite her young years, told how she was determined not to be a victim after she and her mother were forced to seek support from the St Albans Women’s Refuge which is one of my mayoral charities. Sadi explained that with the support of staff from the refuge, she joined a new school, where she succeeded in everything she put her mind to and that she is now settled in a new home with her mum. A truly moving, but rewarding story.”
The event featured dazzling HD videos on the Arena’s state of the art digital screen, which portrayed the stories behind the finalists. –A comprehensive interview process and event media services were delivered voluntarily by local young production company, RaarFilms.co.uk and AlexJCampbell.co.uk.
The evening included an inspirational key note speech on overcoming adversity and following your dreams from paralympic athlete, Gobi Ranganathan, the UK’s number one wheelchair badminton player. Entertainment was provided by performing arts company Living the Dream; young pianist, Julian Trevelyan and St Albans Music School Big Band.
Mayor's Pride Awards Ethos
The Mayor's Pride Awards exists to publicly recognise and celebrate individuals and groups from St Albans Disrtict that have gone the extra mile for others within the community or have shown immense strength in the face in the face of adversity.
Will there be a Mayor's Pride Awards 2013? Check the webpages in November 2012 to find out.
Check out the Finalists Profiles 2012 section to find out the reasons people nominated the special individuals and groups that made it all the way to the final.
Mayor's Pride Awards 2011
Click on the links below for infomation and coverage on the inaugural Mayor's Pride Awards.