Articles
Pride of Gedling winners announced
Date Posted: 3:40 PM on Mon, 13 November 2023
The Pride of Gedling Awards, in association with Keepmoat Homes, took place last Wednesday evening recognising the very best of Gedling’s residents and businesses as it celebrated the incredible achievements from the community over the last year.
The council received over 230 nominations across the six judging categories. Each award had been shortlisted to three or four nominations and the winners and runners were announced at the event.
The highlight of the night was the announcement of the Overall Pride of Gedling winner, Lauren Cope.
Lauren, the Community Champion of Morrisons in Netherfield, stood out for her unwavering commitment and outstanding contributions to the borough. As the driving force behind various initiatives, Lauren's dedication to supporting local schools, food banks, and community groups made her a worthy winner of the award.
Lauren won the Community Hero Award as well as the prestigious overall Pride of Gedling award and her name has been etched in gold leaf on the winner’s board in the council chamber.
The event was held on Wednesday 8 November at the council’s civic centre. Smooth Radio’s Gareth Evans hosted the event and over 100 local residents and businesses attended along with the Mayor of Gedling, the Leader, Deputy Leader, Councillors and sponsors.
Other highlights on the night included Norma Gregory winning the Outstanding Community Project Award for her work highlighting the history of the men and women from ethnic minorities who worked in the mining community. Another popular win was for Matilda Handy who received the Dylan Barker Young Person Award, for her ‘Postbox from Heaven’ scheme which was about installing post boxes in crematoriums to allow people to write to loved ones who had passed away.
77 year old Chrisy Chadbourne picked up the Environmental Hero Award for her devotion to nature and cleaning up of the woods where she lives in Calverton and Warren Bennett from BKS Martial Arts received the Healthy Lifestyle Award for his work with young people in schools to help build their self-esteem and fitness.
The Business in the Community Award went to Connect @ Netherfield for their tireless work providing community support and promoting LGBTQ+ events such as Netherpride and Netherfest.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Trevor Clower for his dedication to supporting unpaid carers. Trevor has devoted the last 10 years to organising events across the UK to help support carers access the services they need. He was given the award by the Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor John Clarke who described him as a ‘hero’.
The full list of winners and runners-up will be available at www.prideofgedling.co.uk in the next few days.