Fosters sponsor Community Champion Award

09 Nov 2011

Foster Property Maintenance were proud to sponsor the Community Champion Award at the recent Wherry Housing Association awards night. The picture above shows FPM's Operation Manager, Matt Dillon, presenting the award to Pam Dewing.

Over 110 people attended Wherry Housing Association’s Community Hero Awards to celebrate their neighbourhood heroes. The stars of the community were presented with awards and prizes at a sparkling ceremony at Wensum Valley Hotel, Taverham.

Wherry organised the event together with its landlord wide resident group - Way Ahead with Wherry (WAWW). The ceremony, which is now in its fifth year, gives residents who have made an outstanding commitment to the community a chance to shine.

The five winners from acrossNorfolktogether with 39 nominees had all been nominated by their neighbours. The Community Heroes this year were:

• Pride of Place Awards; was won by Cordelia Lemmon from Taverham for all her work in encouraging and empowering residents to get involved in the community and make their voices heard.

• Wherry Good Friend Award; was won by Helen Davies from Sprowston for always going out of her way to help people in her community. Nothing is too much trouble for her and people can rely on her support. Neighbour Pat Howard, who nominated Helen, said: “She is a great friend for all in our close.”

• Young Personality Award had joint winners: Casy Sharpe from Aylsham (8) for looking after her dad who is suffering from a long term illness. She is always friendly and helpful and very much liked by everyone in the community.

• Ryan Tolley (14) from Aylsham won for helping his family to keep things running smoothly at home and being a lifeline to his mum when she is unable to leave the house.

• Community Champion; was won by Pam Dewing from Acle. Pam lives in a sheltered housing scheme and received many nominations for being a recognised community champion. Her neighbours said: “Pam helps everyone no matter what, she is so lovely and does a lot for our community. Without our Pam we would be a bit lost sometimes, as she organises fun lunch clubs, event and much more.” Pam was also nominated for the Wherry Good Friend Award.

Community Champion winner Pam Dewing said:

“I really am speechless. To receive certificates and medals in two categories and to be judged Community Champion winner was entirely unexpected. I will enjoy spending the vouchers too!”

The panel of judges, which included residents from Way Ahead With Wherry and support received from Wherry Housing Association staff, awarded the winners with a special certificate and a personal gift during the emotional ceremony, which left everyone feeling inspired.

Peter McLaughlan, from Way Ahead With Wherry, said:

“I was honoured to be involved with the organisation of the 2011 Community Hero Awards. It is so pleasing to hear about all the wonderful work that so many of the residents are involved with, being fantastic friends for our communities. We had many incredible applications which made the final decision a great difficulty but we know all 44 nominees are Hero’s in our communities and we look forward to hearing about more next year.”

Mark Jones, managing director for Wherry Housing Association added:

“Every year, I continue to be truly impressed by the many amazing residents we have across Wherry. The Community Hero Awards are about recognising these stars, who work tirelessly for their neighbours and communities and thanking them for their fantastic efforts. The event was a huge success and I would like to say a big thank you to our friends from Norse, Foster Property Maintenance Ltd, CGM Landscapes and P C Decorating Services Ltd & Garden Landscape Services – without their support the event simply wouldn’t have been possible.”

*Story from 24dash.com original story can be found here