Richmond upon Thames

Council for Voluntary Service

The 2008 Community Awards

Richmond’s Volunteers in Bloom

The winners of the 2008 Richmond Council for Voluntary Service (RCVS) Community Awards celebrated their success at the 8th annual event on Tuesday 11th November.  These awards recognise the invaluable contribution of so many selfless individuals who volunteer across the Borough. The prize-winning ceremony took place in the beautiful setting of Kew Gardens, this year’s generous hosts for the event and was presided over by the Mayor of Richmond-upon-Thames, Cllr. Helen Lee-Parsons.

The winners are:

Catherine Hughes, vinvolved Young Citizen Award: Catherine Hughes regularly gives up her Saturday mornings to coach rugby to the younger members of Richmond Borough.  She is the Whitton Warriors under 9s coach and the under 12s assistant coach.  Catherine’s enthusiasm, commitment and passion to get youngsters involved in the sport has led her to become a coach of exceptional value to the club.  Originally joining the club as an assistant coach, her obvious talent and keenness for more responsibility soon led to her adopting a head coach role.  2008 saw the Warriors achieve their most successful season ever.  This is undoubtedly due, in large part, to volunteers like Catherine.  In what is largely considered a male dominated environment, Catherine has offered a positive and consistent role model to some of the less advantaged girls and boys in the Richmond area.

David Hobbs, SW Trains Good Citizen Award:  David Hobbs has been the Chairperson of Fulmer Close Resident’s association for the past few years and has made a huge impact on the lives of the residents. People of all ages live on the estate, from young families to older people.  All of them have benefited from the tireless efforts of David and his team.  Throughout the year activities and trips are organised by the residents association and are open to all to join in and enjoy. Due to the work David has co-ordinated on the estate residents can enjoy a cleaner, tidier and safer environment to live in.  Those who know him applaud his approach to the resident’s association and the work he does as simply ‘unique’.  Despite working full time as a lorry driver Dave has devoted countless hours to creating a safer and more pleasant place for people to live.

Glady Steele, Richmond and Twickenham PCT Health Improvement Award:  Every now and then an individual joins a voluntary group and makes such a contribution that it energises and enthuses others within that organisation.  Gladys Steele is one such person.  The mission of the Friend’s of Queen Mary’s Hospital is to enhance the quality of life for both patients and staff.  Gladys achieves this by working tirelessly five days a week and some weekends on the elderly and Amputee Patient’s wards.  Gladys always goes that extra mile to bring a smile to a patient’s face.  She delights in planning special birthday parties among many of her other tasks.  Everything Gladys does is done with cheerfulness and fun, something she transfers to patients and staff alike. 

Learn English at Home, RuT Churches Housing Trust Diversity Award: Learn English at Home trains volunteer tutors to teach English on a one-to-one basis to non-English speaking residents.  Volunteer tutors are matched with a student who they visit at home once a week for 1 or 2 hours.  English is taught at different levels, from basic communication skills to advanced skills to help students move into employment.  LEAH encourages respect of different cultures and all tutors are trained in cultural awareness.  Additional courses are also on offer, including fitness, first aid and organic gardening which all help encourage people from different cultures to work and mix together. 
In 2008 LEAH was awarded the Queen’s Award for its work with ethnic minority communities heralding it as an exemplar of best practice.

David Ohl, Richmond Adult Community College Employee Volunteer Award:  Despite working full-time in banking, David Ohl has given many hours and shown outstanding commitment as a volunteer for Richmond Borough.  He is an environmental champion and has set up his own “Keep Richmond Tidy” group.  He is Chairman of his local Residents’ Association and promotes recycling and keeping the environment healthy.  At work, David motivates, encourages and cajoles his colleagues throughout London branches of Barclays bank to take action in creating a greener and more sustainable working environment.

Geoffrey Barnett, RCVS Good Governance Award:  Geoffrey Barnett has been Chair of the Castelnau Project through perhaps the busiest period of development the Centre and Board have ever experienced.  He has championed many changes and developments at the Centre itself, taking the lead in transforming it into the vibrant, positive, community-led place that it is today. Geoffrey provides enormous support to the Centre’s excellent staff who undoubtedly appreciate his dedication and commitment greatly.  He has been instrumental in encouraging more local people to take an active part in the governance of the organisation, including new appointments to the Board itself.

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Malcolm Slumber, Morgan Langley IT Award:  Malcolm has made an outstanding contribution to the organisation, administration and successful delivery of the Serco PC donation project.  This project, managed by Richmond CVS, helped many organisations in the Borough benefit from the distribution and implementation of recycled computers.  Without Malcolm’s dedication and 110% commitment this project could not have been delivered.  54 Richmond VC organisations now enjoy the benefits of updated more reliable IT systems. The knock on effect means that many more individuals benefit from local services.

Volunteers of the Mulberry Centre, Unity Trust Bank Good Practice Award:  The Mulberry Centre offers support and information to anyone affected by a diagnosis with cancer in their lifetime. It offers a wide range of services to support patients, carers and those bereaved by cancer.  The Mulberry Centre recognises the important and vital contribution that volunteers make and provides a supportive environment.  Volunteers are an integral part of the team and are given specialist training, professional support, supervision and guidance.  Last year alone 2099 therapy sessions were provided to people affected by cancer thanks to the skill and hard work of dedicated volunteers.

Ian Micklewright, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Green Volunteer Award:  Ian Micklewright is the longest serving volunteer gardener with Richmond SPADE – a free gardening service for disabled, older and housebound residents of Richmond Borough.  He has completed over 100 gardening jobs over the last 2 years.  The impact of Ian’s work as a volunteer gardener and others like him has had a huge impact on the quality of resident’s lives.  Hundreds of people across the Borough have benefited from the service.  Ian, who left work as a geophysicist to dedicate himself to community work has never sought recognition for all the work he has done for some of the boroughs most vulnerable residents.

Kath Raven, Elisabeth Roberts and David Eggleton, Rotary Club of Richmond Lifetime Achievement Award:  Kath Raven has worked for many years as a trustee and treasurer at Centre 32 in Twickenham to ensure those with enduring mental health problems might have a safe haven where they could be nurtured to increase their independence and become less isolated.  Despite being retired and having to deal with her own personal health problems Kath is still very much involved with the organisation. Kath has dedicated a lifetime to caring for others and is still active in ensuring the work of Richmond Borough MIND is publicised and recognised. 

Elisabeth Roberts has been a volunteer with the Ham and Petersham S.O.S good neighbour scheme since 1984.  After retiring from a distinguished career in nursing, Elisabeth was never likely to be content with just sitting around and cultivating her garden.  She became a volunteer - that was 24 years ago. Since then Elisabeth has worked tirelessly on the phone in the office, as a driver and as a befriender.  At 89 Elisabeth has stopped driving but she is still manning the phone and there are no signs of her wishing to stop. 

David Eggleton is Chairman of Whitton Network, a local neighbourhood care group for elderly and disabled residents and others who need a helping hand.
David volunteers 5 days a week and is kept busy driving clients to appointments, getting their shopping, collecting prescriptions and pensions and even doing a spot of DIY. Nothing is too much trouble and he will always go that extra mile to help someone.  David’s colleagues and all the borough residents who know him think he is “SIMPLY THE BEST.”

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For additional information contact Michelle Jayman on 020 8255 8163 or email: michellej@richmondcvs.org.uk

Please view some of the photographs from the
Award Ceremony [opens PDF]

The Mayor described the evening as:

“…really demonstrating the impact and the strength of the voluntary sector in Richmond.”

She went on to add:

“I do not know where Richmond would be without our volunteers”

Vinvolved, the National Youth Volunteering organisation, are new sponsors for the Young Citizen Award this year.

Sarah Foss, who presented the trophy to this year’s winner said,

“The vinvolved programme is proud to sponsor this event. Tapping into the energy of our young people is vital to the community as a whole.”

This year’s winners were joined by family, friends and representatives from the public, private and voluntary sector.  Every volunteer nominated for one of the 10 awards was invited to receive a certificate of achievement at the ceremony in recognition of their contribution.  Over 150 guests turned out to applaud the “blooming marvellous” volunteers of Richmond Borough at this sparkling occasion.

David Eggleton, one of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winners was delighted to be at the ceremony with family and friends:

“This is a wonderful event.  I’m really touched to be given this Award.”

David Ohl, The 2008 Good Citizen Award winner described his success as:

“A Great honour.  I’m delighted to win this Award.”

The Volunteer Co-ordinator for Kew Gardens, Amanda le Poer Trench said:

“We are thrilled to be hosting this year’s Community Awards and the stories we have heard this evening demonstrate what a wealth of volunteers we have in the local community.”

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