‘Local Heroes’ presented with awards
l- r Councillor Liz Simpson, deputy business chair, who presented the awards; Katrina Cassidy; Rob Angus; Andy Griffin; Andrea Hewitson; Tommy Boswell; Eleanor Cassidy
Local heroes at Amble have been honoured for the contribution they’ve made to their local communities.
The county-wide awards scheme, Northumberland Local Heroes, has highlighted how much good work is done by local people and groups for the benefit of neighbours and their local area.
Councillor Liz Simpson, deputy business chair at Northumberland County Council, presented awards to a group of residents who have been involved in work for the community.
This included Katrina Cassidy and Andrea Hewitson of the Amble Community Team, a group of volunteers who work tirelessly to improve the recreation area in the town.
Katrina is also chair of Amble Lifeboat Fundraisers, and along with vice chair Eleanor Cassidy, they received an award for raising money for RNLI Amble – now on a mission to raise £200,000 for a new Lifeboat.
Tommy Boswell from Funworld Leisure received an award for the generous support his business gives to local events.
Also honoured were Rob Angus, who was nominated for his willingness to volunteer to help out with community activities and Andrew Griffin of Shilbottle for his work with Action on Hearing Loss and successfully campaigning to gain free lip reading classes across the county.
Councillor Simpson said: “We’ve had a fantastic response to the request for nominations, showing how much our heroes are appreciated for the effort they make for their communities. Amble is a great example of how local people contribute to their neighbourhood and the wider community.”
“The nominations have highlighted how much good work is done by local people and groups for the benefit of their neighbours and local area. It’s good to praise and acknowledge the excellent work being done by those people and we’d like to encourage more people to get involved.”
The nominations were made in three categories; good neighbours, businesses supporting their community and community champions. Heroes were nominated for lots of reasons – from small one-off acts of kindness to people or local businesses who regularly make a big impact in their neighbourhood.
Councillor Simpson added: “I would urge everyone to think about who has made a positive impact on their lives and nominate them for these awards to make sure they get the thank you they deserve.”
“We know that there are a lot of heroes in our county but we need our residents’ help to find them and show our appreciation.”
Winners of the award receive a certificate and memento and their names will appear on the Council’s website so people can see who they are and why they have won this recognition.
Residents of Northumberland can nominate a local hero by picking up a form from any council buildings (libraries, customer information centres and tourist information centres) or online at hero.northumberland.gov.uk.
