Points of Light: June 2014 winners
The Points of Light award recognises outstanding individuals - people who are making a change in their community and inspiring others.
The following people were given a Points of Light award in June 2014 (the numbering continues from May’s winners):
33. Richard Angel (London)
Richard wins the award for saving a man’s life using the first aid training he received through his voluntary role as an army cadet leader.
34. Alice Carter (Lincoln)
Alice wins the award after volunteering over 2,500 hours for community sports projects in just 4 years.
35. Sharon Jandu (Huddersfield)
Sharon Jandu wins the award for helping young offenders find work. As a Justice of the Peace, Sharon saw how many young offenders struggled to find a job and were stuck in a cycle of reoffending. With Leeds City College, Sharon created a training programme for a group of young people; each one completed the programme and is now either an apprentice, on a traineeship programme or in employment.
36. Rebecca Daniels (Carmarthenshire)
Rebecca wins the award for giving up her spare time to champion hockey at a local, national and international level; helping hundreds of Welsh young people get involved in the sport over the years.
37. George Batts (Kent)
A D-Day veteran, George wins the award for his volunteering work for the Normandy Veterans Association (NVA). George has dedicated much of his life to ensure memories of D-Day continue to be shared and that the fallen are not forgotten. He speaks in schools and helps to organise veterans’ annual trips to northern France.
38. Mike Smith (Cornwall)
Mike wins the award for his volunteer work with Age UK Cornwall. Mike’s friend, Bernard, had been told by doctors that he only had weeks to live. Bernard wanted to die at home but was not able to, as he lived alone; on finding this out, Mike immediately volunteered to move in and care for the elderly man until he passed away. Mike also regularly takes part in a car scheme to help patients get to hospital and GP appointments, and runs a special bus service so elderly and unwell people can get to the shops.
39. Rita Langford (Herefordshire)
Rita ran a charity shop for years, raising thousands of pounds. When the time commitment became too great she decided to give it up. But, determined to keep on raising money for charity and missing that business buzz, Rita decided to let the shop out to different charities to run it each week. The Kington & District Community Shop has raised £300,000 since it first opened in 2009.
40. Trisha Williams (Somerset)
Trisha wins the award for founding ‘Butterflies-Haven’, the Young Voice Social Group and the Step-Up Youth Group. All these organisations help siblings and parents of young people who live with autism; giving comfort, direction and hope. There are now 22 inspirational and talented volunteers who dedicate their free time to running sessions and other friendly gatherings for families.
41. Brian Jones (Stockton-on-Tees)
Brian wins the award thanks to his work supporting over 700 men through The Moses Project, the charity he set up to support homeless men and men living with addiction issues. He also works with many other charities to provide a network of support and advice for clients of the project.
42. Peter Maher (Cumbria)
Peter wins the award for leading a campaign to bring his local pub under community ownership after it had been closed down. He also played an important role in preparing and submitting a bid to the Big Lottery Fund: the resulting grant will help fund a community building to create more opportunities for Ennerdale Bridge residents.
43. Anton Guidera (Kettering)
Anton wins the award for spending his free time and money to create an urban gym called The Compound, a place where young people can go and be encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle.
44. Roger Mottram (Staffordshire)
Roger has won the award after dedicating his retirement to maintain the Peak District national park as a volunteer. Roger still carries out around 30 ranger duties per year and covers the shifts of other volunteers despite suffering a heart attack 3 years ago. Doctors have told him that it was his work as a volunteer, which had kept him so fit, that played a significant part in keeping him alive.
45. Imogen Morizet (Canterbury)
Imogen wins the award for leading a team of volunteers to save the historic Westgate community hall from demolition. The hall is now being refurbished by the Westgate Community Trust, which Imogen set up with other residents, and will reopen later in 2014.
46. Joanne Curtis (Leeds)
Jo set up her own group, the Digital Lounge Work Club, to help people to get back into work. Jo wins the award for spending a huge amount of her free time volunteering and supporting the Seacroft community through the Digital Lounge, alongside working full time for the LS14 Trust. She has helped hundreds of people (including ex-offenders) with various issues including debt, domestic violence, food poverty and loneliness.
47. Dominic Greene (Stoke-on-Trent)
Dominic becomes the youngest recipient of the award for his work collecting rubbish and tidying Normacot’s Centenary Garden. Dominic started volunteering his time after a class trip to the garden, when he noticed there was a lot of rubbish. For his work Dominic has been made an honorary member of the Normacot Residents’ Association.
48. Manuela Wahnon (Andover)
Manuela wins the award for her crusade against litter in Andover. Manuela has racked up 5 years’ worth of litter-picking and set up the Attitude of Gratitude campaign in Andover to encourage others to work towards the same goals. She also regularly speaks at schools across the county to help encourage young people to be more thoughtful with their litter.
49. Josie Sherlock (Hull)
Josie wins the award after leading efforts to transform Hull’s Preston Road Women’s Centre. After joining as a volunteer in the centre’s charity shop, she has gone on to oversee renovations, encourage donations and has increased the revenue significantly.
50. Linda Mayhew (London)
Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. Faced with losing her hair after chemotherapy, she received little valuable advice on how to deal with this and became determined to improve patient experience and care. Having overcome the disease, Linda started her pioneering project: Linda’s Great Lengths workshops. These are designed to bring patients, their families and carers together with experts who can advise on managing hair loss and choosing and looking after a perfect wig.
51. James Gilley (London)
James wins the award for setting up a charity - SPAT (Social Purpose and Time). He was inspired to found the charity after losing a homeless friend to a heroin overdose. SPAT aims to provide running and fitness initiatives to homeless and disadvantaged young people aged 16 to 24.
52. PC Ian Northcott (Birmingham)
Ian, known locally as the ‘busking bobby’, devotes his spare time to encouraging people to donate socks, hats, gloves, sleeping bags and chocolate for Birmingham’s homeless.
53. Tim Lord-Hopkins (Portsmouth)
21-year-old Tim wins the award for becoming 1 of 13 volunteers to sit on the British Tennis Youth Group – after overcoming issues with alcohol and substance abuse.
The next Points of Light award winners can be found on the July 2014 page; all of the winners can be found via the collections page which brings together all the monthly lists of winners.
Last updated 30 June 2014 + show all updates
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Added recipient number 53 - Tim Lord-Hopkins.
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Updated with winner 52
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Added recipient number 51 - James Gilley.
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Added recipient number 50 - Linda Mayhew.
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Added recipient number 49 - Josie Sherlock.
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Added recipient number 47 - Dominic Greene and 48 - Manuela Wahnon.
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Added recipient number 46 - Joanne Curtis.
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Added recipient number 44 - Roger Mottram.
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Added recipient number 43 - Anton Guidera.
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Added recipient number 42 - Peter Maher.
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Added recipient number 41 - Brian Jones.
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Added recipient number 40 - Trisha Williams.
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Added recipient number 39 - Rita Langford.
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Added recipient number 38 - Mike Smith.
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Added recipient number 37 - George Batts.
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Added recipient number 36 - Rebecca Daniels.
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Added recipient number 35 - Sharon Jandu.
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Added recipient number 34 - Alice Carter.
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First published.