Category: Darren’s Blog

How can that have come around so quickly? It only seems like yesterday that we opened the nominations for the 2016 Love Barrow Awards and here we are on the day of the event!
Tonight the red carpet will be rolled at The Forum as we welcome an amazing bunch of people to the 11th Annual awards night.
Dresses have been bought, suits pressed, shoes polished as the glitz and glamour of the glittering awards cermeony gets underway.
For our finalists it will be a night to remember as they sit down to a meal and then watch the awards cermenoy unfold in what promises to be an amazing night.
Our thanks go to our sponsors and everyone who has worked so hard behind the scenes to make tonight happen.
The finalists are:
Group or Project of the Year
VOCE, Keswick to Barrow walk, SAFA

Young Citizen
Ryan Bickle, Katherine Pugh, Ellie Larsen

Sports Volunteer
Paul Kell, John Jefferson, Colin Knight

Communtiy Focussed Business
Lisa Hart (Kidfest), Deemon Dance, Cheeky Monkeys Childcare

Apprentice / Trainee of the Year
Jake Newton, Jennifer Christie, Omar Echehamta

Citizen of the Year
Julie & Gavin Andrews, Joe Wardman, Irene Crabtree

Teacher of the Year
Ruth Squires, Mike Walsh, Craig Rutherford

Carer of the Year
Lee Winter, Janet Bury, Beverly Dixon

Environment Award
Pat Denny, Morecambe Bay Partnership, Barrow Park Rangers

Courage Award
Jo-Ann Ellis, Gill Tyson, Diana Burns

ALL WINNERS I’M SURE YOU’LL AGREE!

We look forward to welcoming them all on the red carpet – you can follow events live on Twitter, Facebook and The Bay Radio.

Jennifer Christie, Omar Echehamta and Jake Newton make up the three finalists in the Apprentice or Trainee of the year category in the 2016 Love Barrow Awards.

Jennifer Christie is a Business Support Apprentice working for Cumbria County Council supporting all aspects of Childrens Services. She has been with the organisation for just over a year and is a valued member
The nomination form told us that Jennifer is quick at learning with the ability to think outside the box and possesses excellent communication skills. Jennifer joined the department at a time of great change and transitions in ways of working, Jennifer has helped embrace the changes and helped others within the department.

Omar Echehamta  has been involved in North Walney Primary School since his children started school. The
teachers noticed how good he was at relating to children and asked him if he could help out in classes. Omar willingly volunteered in school and really enjoyed working with children.
His experience of volunteering in school led him to apply for an apprenticeship scheme through Lancaster & Morcambe college. Omar completed his level 2 childcare qualification in July this year and has now started his Level 3 qualification through Furness College. Omar is enthusiastic and committed to caring for children. He is a great male role model for the children in school and is well respected by the children and adults that he works with.

Jake Newton  has truly been a star throughout his time at Furness College. He was fortunate to receive an apprenticeship through BAE Systems in the Easter intake. Jake has always been willing to join in with College activities, during the Christmas fund raising, Jake lead a group who run a stall – his enthusiasm was infectious and soon the whole group were surrounded by customers.

Jake has always been willing to share his knowledge with others in class and is always willing to give opinions and to start discussions. Jake’s work in the workshop has always been of a very high standard, he has enjoyed the challenges of new tasks. “Nothing ever seems too much trouble for Jake a truly exceptional student. “

Three great finalists I’m sure you’ll agree and very difficult to choose an overall winner! We look forward to joining all three at the awards evening in March when all the Love Barrow Award finalists receive their accolades as finalists and winners.

 

Time for some blog updates – I’ve been a little bit busy and have been caught out by the Love Barrow Awards main man John tweeting about this blog, so, quick, here we go…

The three finalists in the Environmental Award Category are:

Pat Denny, The Barrow Park-keepers and Morecambe Bay Partnership.

Pat Denny is well known in the local area for her love of wildlife and caring for animals, particularly birds, over many years.

Pat has transformed her home into a wildlife rehabilitation centre and haven where she nurses injured and sick animals back to health for release back into the wild. For birds that are unable to be released back, they spend their days in her aviaries.

She is over retirement age but continues to work to fund her good work with animals. She really is a dedicated and worthy Love Barrow Award nominee.

Barrow Park-keepers have been nominated for the work they undertake within the local park – it really is a wonder to see. The grass is always perfect, the flower beds are stunning, the whole place is a credit to the dedication of the team tasked with looking after it. As a regular at the weekly parkrun, I meet many people fro out of the area who come and visit our park to take part in the run – they always comment about what a stunning park we have here in Barrow and how it rivals any other in the country. Well done team!

Morecambe Bay Partnership is a small charity that makes BIG things happen. They are working hard to
bring benefits to the communities, heritage and environment around the Bay. To date, the Partnership has secured over £3.5M of external investment and are aiming to help secure £10M in the next 10 years to make
more great things happen. Recent projects include the Bay Cycle Way and bringing 2020Vision exhbition to the Bay.

They run a project called Love My Beach which encourages local communities and schools to get involved in environmental projects within their area, they also run the Dunes of Barrow Project, working closely with Natural England.

ALL THREE are great finalists, the winner will be announced at the awards night in March 2016, but in reality, they are all winners, well done all!

 

Lee Winter is a familiar face to anyone who visits the Forum arts centre and theatre in Barrow, he’s always smiling as he goes about his work there as the Technical Officer.

Lee holds down this full time job and also cares for his wife Joanne. He also balances that with looking after their lovely son Oliver who has autism.

Lee is described on the form as “Very caring and hardworking.”,  the person who nominated Lee anonymously also tells us that they had read Lee’s blog and it “really touched me the dedication he has to looking after his family.”

You can read Lee’s blog about his family and running hobby (slightly more than a hobby) at http://hesnotmental.blogspot.co.uk/

Lee has also raised money for charities including the NAS furness branch through his running.

A worthy nominee, Lee is typical of many Love Barrow Awards nominees – “I’m just a carer” he said when we contacted him! I’m sure there;s a few people who think you’re a bit more than that Lee!

I like to think I keep my finger on the pulse locally, but then in this job, when you get to see the nomination forms, sometimes one jumps out about someone or a group doing amazing work that you know absolutely nothing about! How many of these unsung heroes, heroines, carers, volunteers, groups etc are out there locally doing amazing work quietly without any fanfare? Do you know of any? I’m sure you might, get them nominated and give them the opportunity to be recognised!

Here’s a fine example – the Well Recovery Group in Barrow, less than a year old but doing amazing things, I’ll let the nomination form do the talking….

“The Well are an emerging and successful grass roots recovery group led by people in recovery from an addiction for the benefit of those who wish to recover from addiction and their families.”

“Led by senior worker Carl, The Well in Barrow have really developed a recovery network of people who wish to support one another in their recovery journey, they offer opportunities for people to give back to their local community, they offer volunteering opportunities and much more. The Well are working to help people be well, recover and repair the harm caused by addiction to their health, family relationships, support reintegration into the local community and to break down the stigma associated with addiction as well as providing people with drug related offences the opportunity to gain vital work experience to support steps towards employment”

Brilliant stuff and fully deserving of a nomination!

“A great group of passionate, inspiring people who care about people affected by addiction.”

Here we go with news of some more nominees in the 2016 Love Barrow Awards – with less than a week until nominations close on Sunday the postbox is getting busy!

S.A.F.A are a local group that support, raise awareness and quite often are a lifeline for those who self-harm. S.A.F.A. stands for Self-harm Awareness for the Furness Area – and the service is very well used. Self-harming is one of those taboo subjects that lives under the radar of lots of people, but it is very real and support networks are a much needed resource to those who self-harm or have family and friends that are affected.

To give an insight into how highly they are thought of locally as a support team, I’ll quote one of the service’s users, who has taken the time to nominate the team –  “SAFA  are patient , kind, dedicated, non judgmental team, you are put at ease the second you walk through those doors. They are simply amazing.I honestly couldn’t say enough good things about them. ”

S.A.F.A made it to the finals of the 2015 Love Barrow Awards for their work locally, which they continue to provide despite fighting funding battles every day. Great to see them nominated again and good luck in the judging process!

While we’re on the subject of S.A.F.A. – we have another nomination in the postbag for the Courage award category – for Cindy Daltioni – and here’s the connection, straight from Cindy’s nomination form –  “Cindy started SAFA in 2006 as a result of past personal experiences , I think courage comes in all forms and I think that self harm is massively misunderstood, it took Cindy’s bravery and determination to step forward and say look this needs addressing… more can be done and I can do this. It took courage to step forward and the countless people that have been helped due to her bravery is just amazing !”

Do you know of a local group of project, or indeed someone who exhibits courage that deserves recognition? Nominations close Sunday 8th November!

It’s been a busy week for nominations in the Love Barrow Awards, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have room for more – you have until November 8th to get them in, so head over to the nominations section of the site if you know of someone worthy of a nomination, it’s a great way to say “Thank You”.

As I’ve gotten a bit behind with blog posts, I’ve decided to run with a weekend summary this week and give you a glimpse of some of the nominations, maybe it could inspire to think of other worthy nominees?

Here’s the first weekend summary, look out more over the next day or two….

Firstly we have a couple of Sports Volunteer Category nominees – Paul Kell and Dave Farrish.

Starting with Dave, he has shadowed his partner, Sonja Foster, as a Run Leader for both Parkside Panthers and Duddon Dragons for many years now and has been a stalwart volunteer at Barrow parkrun from the very beginning.  Dave is there before anyone else every Saturday to help set out the parkrun course for the hundreds who take part.

Dave is committed to encouraging and helping people to get fit whatever their age or level of fitness.  He shows understanding and is caring because he been through the process himself and he can relate to his own personal experiences of being unfit to being able to run a 10k race and in the process of it all losing weight, feeling positive, happier and becoming healthier.

He is selfless and gives up his own personal free time to help others throughout the year for no other reason than the satisfaction he gains from seeing other people succeed.

Top effort Dave!

Onto Paul – Paul is a well known face on the local junior football scene – having been involved for over ten years now. Manager, coach, ref, linesman, pitch marker-off, kit washer, taxi-driver, DIY man, you name it, he’s done it!

Earlier this year Paul was instrumental in setting up a new Junior section at Barrow Wanderers football club  – a FULL junior section, covering all the age ranges – in total an amazing EIGHT TEAMS!

This provides a footballing opportunity for around 120 local kids! Paul has used his persuasive skills to negotiate sponsors for kits too!

One of the most comprehensive nomination forms we’ve ever seen tells pretty much of Paul’s life story in supporting kids football, way to much to feature in this blog post, but it will all be read and digested by the judges when nominations close.

Well done to both Paul and Dave.

 

 

Our first nomination in the Teacher of the Year category this year is MIKE WALSH.

 

Where do we begin in telling you about Mike? We always make a point of explaining that we judge the awards solely on the information supplied on the nomination forms – with Mike we have enough detail on the form to fill a few of these blog posts!

“He is a amazing outgoing teacher that will go above and beyond for his students and Co workers.”

“He loves his job and everything that goes with it. ”
As well as teaching full time, Mike is a personal tutor and has trained as a counsellor in the evenings for 3 years so that he can help students even more.

He has been a volunteer counsellor for Action For Children for over a year and is now counselling for SAFA as well.

Mike has regularly helped fundraise for the local NAS and has done the K2B and C2B, training until late into the evening after work and marking/planning. He is always helping neighbours and does jobs for an elderly lady who lives in his street. He has 2 allotments as he is keen on healthy eating and is always happy to help allotment neighbours with jobs or advice.

He also gives away a lot of produce to people he thinks would appreciate it.

He has the attitude that he is here to help and that’s exactly what he does.

I told you there was plenty on his form – and I’m still reading!

Sounds like a top guy and a really deserving nominee for a Love Barrow Award.

Do you know a teacher who goes that extra mile? Nominations are open now!

Our first nomination in the environmental category this year is for the team who look after Barrow Park – some call them Park Wardens, some Park Rangers, some Park Keepers and others call them gardeners!

Whatever you call them, the team from Continental Landscapes who look after the park for the people of Barrow do a fantastic job. The park looks better than ever. A measure of this is at the weekly parkrun, which regularly attracts visitors from afar, they all, without fail, comment about the beauty of our park. Some have been heard to say it’s the most beautiful park they’ve seen, I’m not going to argue, I couldn’t agree more!

Well done to the team and long may you continue in your work, keeping our park right up there with the best in the country!

Do you know of a person or group worthy of a nomination for a Love Barrow Award? Nominating is so easy, just head over to the nomination section of this website and follow the easy steps, it’s a great way to say thank you!