Herefordshire Community Champions Awards – 22nd March 2019

The Chairman of Herefordshire Council, Cllr. Brian Wilcox, created these awards four years ago to honour those in the county who make a different above and beyond. There were three finalists in five categories – Youth Champion, Environment Champion, Volunteer Champion, Community Champion and Caring Champion. After the citations were read by Paul Deneen OBE JP DL, the master of Ceremonies (and honorary straightener of the High Sheriff badge which has a tendency to flip over), The Lord Lieutenant opened the envelope with the name of the winner of the first four categories and gave the award and certificate. The High Sheriff did the fifth one, the Caring Champion, in line with the shrieval theme.

The Lord Lieutenant then awarded the Overall Herefordshire Community Champion which was won by Angie Tyler, the founder of the Ely Memorial Fund which runs the Dying 2 Drive events in the County. These have featured in previous entries in this blog and we have been bowled over by them and their impact. Indeed, I put up this charity as Herefordshire’s Entry into the National CrimeBeat competition. So we were thrilled that Angie was the overall winner, against some very tough competition from very good people doing great things for others.

With Council elections coming up, both to the Council and then for Chairman, this may be Cllr Wilcox’s last year as Chairman of the Council. If anyone reads this, here is my thanks to him, supported by his wife Lynda, for this an many other initiatives for the County.