2021 Winners

Pride of Gedling Lifetime Achievement Award sponsored by Gedling Borough Council

The winner of this year’s lifetime achievement award is Richard Whitehead MBE. Richard was born just on our doorstep in Lowdham and from an early age, developed a passion for sport and he certainly wasn’t going to let a double through-knee congenital amputation get in the way of him achieving success.

For any of you who may not know what Richard has achieved, he won two golds at the 2012 London Paralympics and won gold again at the 2016 games in Rio. Overnight he became a superstar and he has used his fame to help others.

Richard completed the 40 Marathons in 40 Days challenge from John O’Groats to Lands End and raised money for Sarcoma UK and Scope charities. In 2013, Richard was awarded the MBE for services to athletics and became the patron of several charities including Sarcoma UK, Footprints Conductive Education Centre in Nottingham and our local Gedling Sports Partnership, a charity we also work with to help promote sports and physical education in the borough.

Richard has used his platform to show others that they can live their life without limits and that anything is possible. He uses sport to bring people together and to highlight the importance of inclusivity and diversity. He knows what it feels like to be told you can’t do something because of your disability but he never let that stop him, he just kept going.

Overall PRIDE OF GEDLING AWARD Winner 2021 sponsored by Keepmoat Homes

The winner of the overall Pride of Gedling Award has been a true champion and ambassador for his community for several years. Chris Channon has lived with cerebral palsy since he was born and, at times, he struggled to get the help he needed, especially when in an emergency. On several occasions, he had to call 999 but because of his speech difficulties, the operator wasn’t able to understand him and would often hang up.

After researching emergency call systems around the world, he developed Pegasus, a secure line for people who would find it difficult to speak at a time of crisis. Once put through, the caller only needs to say Pegasus and their PIN. This enables the call handler to act quickly and get help to that person. The scheme has saved countless lives and in 2014, Chris was voted the National Police Volunteer of the Year for his work.

Before he began his work on Pegasus, Chris was a 2 time Paralympian, he was part of the 1980 & 1984 team and a silver medalist in the 10 meter air rifle at the 1984 games. In 2001, he received an MBE for services to the community, all before he had even created Pegasus.

‘Dylan Barker’ Young Achiever Award Winners sponsored by Gedling Eye

Isobel Somerton

Isobel has dealt with not one, but two life threatening conditions that have required prolonged, intensive hospital treatment including a bone marrow donor search and transplant, all whilst studying for her GCSE’s.

Isobel held a Bone Marrow Registering event at Civic Centre and increased awareness of those who also had the same condition.

Despite her personal battle, she has shown immense courage, promoting awareness and the need for people to join the Bone Marrow register across social media, radio and even television interviews. With her family and brother Myles, she has held registration events at the Civic Centre and at schools across Gedling, raising the profile of other young people needing donors.

The winner of the Young People Category is Amy and Ella Meek

Amy and Ella are local legends, having established a young people led Eco awareness and action charity ‘Kids Against Plastic’ around four years ago.

The sisters have engaged with the council to share their vision, plastics clever toolkit and ‘Environmental Challenge 2021’ proposal to sign up all schools, youth clubs and public facilities in the borough, and the county, to their carbon neutral aims for 2021/22.

The Pride of Britain too

If getting a Pride of Gedling Award wasn’t enough, last year Amy and Ella received a Pride of Britain Award for their environmental work. The awards, hosted live on ITV, showcased incredible achievements of people up and down the country. The girls were invited to the star-studded event in London and were awarded with the Green Champion Award for their work to make more schools plastic clever. The Prime Minsister also took time to thank them for the work they have done to try and reduce plastic pollution.

As if we weren’t already beaming with pride and awarding Amy and Ella our Environmental Heroes Award, we were delighted that they have received national recognition for their work.

You can find out more about Amy and Ella and the Kids Against Plastic at www.kidsagainstplastic.co.uk

Inspirational Healthy Lifestyle Award Winners sponsored by Gedling Leisure

Arnold Swimming Club

Arnold Swimming Club has been at the heart of the community for 95 years’, with its volunteer committee and coaching staff promoting health, fitness and inspiring athletes in a safe and friendly learning environment.

The club is always there for its members and during lockdowns, set fun challenges to take part in, even without the water.

If you could bottle the enthusiasm, commitment and enjoyment that comes from the club, it would be worth a fortune.

Outstanding Community Project Winner sponsored by Jigsaw Homes

Emmanuel Church

Lockdown was hard for all of us but for some it was extremely concerning as people lost jobs, lost income and were unable to put food on their tables. That’s where Emmanuel Church and Tony and Nikki stepped in.

Tony and Nikki started cooking homemade meals for the whole community during lockdown. They were available every Tuesday and Thursday and are now still available every Tuesday. There are no questions asked when collecting the meals. The meals are delicious, nutritious and feed the whole family. They work incredibly hard to provide a variety of meals and epitomize the word community.

Business in the Community Award joint winners sponsored by Keepmoat Homes

Ravenshead Farm Shop

During the pandemic Craig and the team at Ravenshead Farm Shop have worked tirelessly to supply residents with provisions, even making deliveries to those who were unable to leave their homes.

The business does everything it can to support the local community, employing local people wherever possible and working with small local suppliers and growers, selling their merchandise the shop, becoming a lifeline for numerous local businesses and helping them to survive throughout the pandemic.

Over the past few years, Craig and the team have not only gone from strength to strength themselves, but also supported many other local businesses, the local community and numerous charities

It’s Inn The Bank

This local pub has provided a vital service to the Netherfield community throughout the pandemic. They created a community channel on Facebook, providing much needed humour and ran a Friday night disco which could be watched online, taking requests and raising a smile when things seemed bleak. When pubs were allowed to reopen, they created a safe environment to socialise in, closely following Covid guidelines.

Throughout both lockdowns they delivered food to vulnerable residents, cooking meals for the Gedling community at the Richard Herrod Humanitarian Centre, using their kitchen at the pub and joining volunteers at the centre to help pack them for delivery.

Community Heroes Award Winner, sponsored by DAVID JAMES ESTATE AGENTS

Cullen Morathota and Bernice Thomas

After a cadets meeting, Cullen and Bernice were walking home when they saw a motorbike on its side a man sat on the curb, clearly an accident had happened and the boys swung into action. They carried out a primary survey of the situation, announced they were trained first aiders and began to administer help to the fallen rider.

The boys kept their cool and took control of the scene, rallying bystanders to help, gathering notes of the incident and making the scene safe, all whilst administering first aid to the rider and making him as comfortable as possible until help arrived.

The Environmental Hero Award Winners sponsored by GEDLING LOTTO COMMUNITY FUND

The winner of the Business category is The Wilkins Group

Employing over 300 staff, the group provide packaging for companies across the globe. What has made them different to their competitors is there ambitious strategy to reduce their carbon footprint when producing their goods.

They also promote local businesses and understand the importance of reducing costs to their customers.

The JOINT winners of the individual awards are Martin Demody and Frank Knowles

Martin’s presence throughout Gedling is well known from Arnold to Lambley, being active within “Arnold in Bloom” and of course, being a firm fixture at litter picks over several years.

Frank has pioneered the ecological management and development of wood and historical meadows of Gedling House Wood, putting tireless years’ work into the nature reserve and ensuring it can be used as a vital resource such as a forest school site for local children.