BURTON MAIL COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS AWARDS
The awards ceremony for the 2015 Community Champions took place at Pirelli on Friday 18th September. It was preceded by a three-course meal enjoyed by award winners, their families and sponsoring organisations. The evening was organised by the Burton Mail to provide an opportunity for “the local community to recognise the remarkable and inspirational people who make a significant difference to the lives of others without asking for anything in return”.
Winners had been chosen for each of 14 categories, including Mum of the Year, Performing Arts, Kindness to Animals, Teacher of the Year, Courage, Great Neighbour and Achievements Against All Odds. The star of the evening was undoubtedly 7-year-old Mia Parnell who won the Inspirational Youngster award and who proved more than match for the evening’s compere when answering his questions.
We and Bretby Rotary Club had decided to make a Rotary Special Recognition Award to the category winner whom we felt most closely met our organisation’s ideal of “Service above Self”. Officers of both Clubs, meeting under the chairmanship of William Saunders, had agreed unanimously that our award should be made to Chris Boundford, winner of the Great Neighbour category.
She is an 81-year-old pensioner, living in Stretton, who, among other activities, visits neighbours, collects their orders at local shops and chemists, organises trips and does gardening in their absence. She even took a very ill and under-fed lady with a gambling addition under her wing, taking her to hospital, visiting her daily, transforming her flat and taking charge of her money.
Unfortunately, Chris Boundford could not be present at the awards ceremony but Jarvis Whitehead, President of Bretby, and I made our presentation to Valerie Bestall on her behalf. We may ask Chris to attend our joint meeting in February so we can meet her in person.
All in all, this was a humbling yet interesting evening enjoyed by all who attended, including several Rotarians and partners from both Bretby and our own Club.
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