2022 Winners
Overall PRIDE OF GEDLING AWARD Winner 2022 sponsored by Keepmoat Homes
Tina Simpson
The winner of the overall Pride of Gedling Award has been a true champion and ambassador for her community for several years. Tina has worked as a volunteer and trustee at St George’s Loco Centre in Netherfield for over 25 years.
She helps support families across the town with events at the centre that caters for local school children, including families who are struggling due to the cost of living crisis and other financial problems.
Tina has dedicated her life to helping people who need it the most. When we went to visit her at the centre, under false pretences that we were filming a video for all nominees, we were able to see first-hand the impact of the work Tina does. She organised for over 50 children to have a Halloween party which included a free meal, supported by Nottinghamshire County Council. The event included fancy dress, face painting, drawing activities and a large indoor bouncy castle for the children to enjoy. Tina worked on every aspect of the day, from serving the hot food, to taking all of the names of attendees on the door, all while supporting the parents at the event, many of whom rely on her for wellbeing support.
You can watch the video we produced at the event showing why Tina is the Pride of Gedling by visiting the Gedling Borough Council YouTube page.
Business in the Community Award winners (sponsored by Keepmoat Homes)
Suthaharan Raslinghan – Somersby Convenience
Suthaharan has worked tirelessly to make Somersby Convenience the heart of the Woodthorpe Community. During lockdown, he organised and co-ordinated a team of local community volunteers to help deliver shopping to the vulnerable of the Woodthorpe.
He organises special community events from Halloween to Christmas carol concerts and he paid for maintenance of the local community garden, as well as buying benches and fencing to make the area a nice environment for locals to relax. He regularly donates products of the shop to local charitable causes and always has time to chat for everyone in the community and is hugely valued by all his customers
Community Heroes Award, sponsored by T&S HEATING
Sally Bates
Sally collects, cleans and prepares donated items to raise money for charity through her Sassy’s Bag a Bargain Facebook page. She helps families that are struggling, be it collecting school clothing or incredibly, when a family lost everything in a house fire last Christmas, Sally went into action and used her online page to rally the troops and make sure that those children would have something to open on Christmas day.
Ask anyone in her local community and they would say she has a heart of gold.
Outstanding Community Project Winner sponsored by Jigsaw Homes
Amanda Vennell
Everyone in Nottinghamshire and around the UK was deeply saddened when young Dylan Rich, a footballer for West Bridgford Colts, collapsed and died on the pitch.
Amanda, who has a son of a similar age, was so upset that she felt that she had to do something about it so she started the ‘Defibs for Grassroots Football’ campaign and in just under a year, has raised enough money to purchase over 20 defibrillators for local football clubs.
Amanda’s actions have meant that should the unimaginable happen again, lives could be saved. Her commitment to this cause has been nothing short of heroic.
The Environmental Hero Award sponsored by THE WILKINS GROUP
Leah Lee
At just 8 years old, Leah is already very passionate about the environment. She is a member of Kids Against Plastic and has been visiting local schools to give talks about plastic pollution and the effects of it on our ocean and wildlife.
She has inspired children and adults across the borough to do what they can to save the planet. These small drops lead to large ripples and Leah’s impact will make a huge difference. Did we mention she is just 8 years old?
Inspirational Healthy Lifestyle Award Winners sponsored by Gedling Leisure
Woodborough Celtic Youth FC
You often hear about the ‘love of the game’ but the coaches at this club are changing young people’s lives.
Established in 2021, the free training sessions are helping children from pre-school upwards learn about how sport can be great for your physical and mental wellbeing.
Martin, Paul and Adam give their time and energy for free and have 60-80 children attend the sessions every week. They teach the children the essential skills for football while making sure it’s fun. They encourage sportsmanship, praise and that everyone is a winner. What’s not to love about that?
‘Dylan Barker’ Young Achiever Award Winners sponsored by Gedling Eye and This is Gedling Magazine
Freddie Vokes
13-year-old Freddie is an accomplished pianist and harpist and his talent alone on those instruments would make him a worthy nominee for the young achiever award. However, it is using his talent to help others, which he has been nominated for.
In March, after seeing the appalling scenes on the television of the war unfolding in Ukraine, Freddie decided to take action. He organised live streaming concerts to raise money for the Ukraine appeal. Freddie raised over £1,000 for the appeal and the money was used to buy urgent medical equipment.
