Best Garden: Charles Malcolm
Mr Malcolm has brought an oasis of colour on to a main road in the centre of Ossett in Wakefield. His garden is regarded by locals as ‘The Sunshine Garden’ and people often stop to look and take photos of all his lovely, brightly coloured flowers and plants.
Young Achiever: Alba Stogden
Seven-year-old Alba is our youngest achiever who tackled her own lockdown anxiety by going out on litter picks each day around Pontefract with her mum. She is a little girl on a mission to make the world a cleaner, safer and happier place. Alba has walked over 240 miles and helped to raise thousands of pounds for mental health charities.
Arts and Culture: Pontefract Decoration Squad
Pontefract Decoration Squad started as a group to help decorate Pontefract for the Tour de Yorkshire. Since then, they have created designs from painting and recycling waste drink bottles to create stunning displays using wire and netting around Pontefract for Remembrance Sunday, Yorkshire Day, VE Day and the Liquorice Festivals.
Working with Young People: The Addy in Knottingley
The Addy in Knottingley has developed into so much more than just a playground. The team of staff and volunteers provide daily play sessions for hundreds of children of all ages. They also provide services for older residents such as the Wild Tot and Friends intergenerational sessions and sessions for children with additional needs. Every week during lockdowns whilst their usual activities were on hold, they distributed hundreds of play packs as well as over 100 meals, to children living on the Warwick Estate in Knottingley. This helped to keep them entertained and help reduce financial strain on their parents during these difficult times.
Working with Older People: Wilds Tots and Friends at the Old Quarry Adventure Playground
Due to COVID-19 restrictions The Addy had to close its doors in 2020 so couldn’t deliver their Wild Tots and Friends intergenerational sessions. However, they went over and above to continue to support the elderly community in Knottingley. The team created care packages for them, including socks, puzzle books, blankets, biscuits, painting by numbers, and other craft activities, and delivered these to their doorsteps. They also organised a weekly call rota and called their regular attendees to have a chat and check in with them to help reduce social isolation and loneliness, as many of them live alone or were isolating.
Community Champion: Tracy Morgan
Tracy created and now runs the Normanton School Uniform Exchange in her free time, which provides free, good quality, second-hand school uniform for the local community. Since the Uniform Exchange was set up almost a year ago, she has supported 590 families by providing over 3,000 items of clothing and saving 609kg of clothes from landfill.
Digital in the Community: Community Choir Wakefield
The Community Choir Wakefield, is an inclusive, non-auditioned community choir for the district who have adopted digital technology such as Skype and Zoom to rehearse and perform online during the pandemic. The choir has been a great way for people to get together and perform but it also brings pleasure to the people that watch the performances
Community Group: Airedale Food, Baby and Children’s Bank
This group started off during lockdown as a food bank. However, the volunteers realised an increase in demand for baby and children’s items. To tackle this, the two banks joined forces to help even more people in Airedale and the surrounding area. They have over 30 volunteers and work with Wakefield Council, WDH and Social Services to support families in need through referrals helping over 30 families a week.