Volunteer Achievement Awards 2025
The Strathmore Hotel, Morecambe
Wednesday 7 June, 5pm - 7pm
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We were once again blessed by the weather this year, welcoming over 120 people to The Strathmore hotel in Morecambe to celebrate our wonderful volunteers. The Right Worshipful Mayor of Lancaster, Margaret Pattinson, opened proceedings with warm words about just how much our volunteers are valued.
This year’s hosts were Paul Jebb – chairman of Lancaster District CVS – and fellow CVS trustee, Ali Richards. Their long friendship and effervescent chemistry kept things bubbling along and we have received so many comments from people who thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Thank you to Paul and Ali!
It should go without saying that everyone nominated this year, across all categories, is totally deserving of their nomination and as in every year our panel of decision-makers had an unenviable task of deciding which nominee should win outright.
And a huge thank you to everyone that supported the Awards this year financially – individual Award sponsors Specialist Care Team, HSE Advice UK, Lancaster & Morecambe College, and Lancaster University, as well as event sponsors County Councillors Erica Lewis and Charlie Edwards, and Cumberland Building Society. Your kind contributions ensured that this year’s event could take place.
We started with one of two new Award categories for 2025 – Wellbeing Champion.
Wellbeing Champion -sponsored by Specialist Care Team
We were delighted to receive four nominations for this brand-new award. We wanted to do something to recognise the specific work being done with health and wellbeing, supporting our communities to live well and get more out of life.
The nominees were:
- Becca Snow from Good Things Collective;
- Patricia Howard from Parkinson’s UK Lancaster;
- Andrew Downey from Heysham Atoms ARLFC;
- Shawn Duckers from Bay Veteran’s Association.
Winner
Shawn Duckers – Bay Veteran’s Association
Fundraiser of the Year
Show me the money! We all know how difficult it can be to secure the funds to make sure we can do the things that we do, so fundraising is vital. The Fundraiser of the Year award isn’t necessarily about raising the most money, it’s about the dedication and effort put into a cause, and the difference it made. Is it getting harder to bring in the cash? Maybe, but in 2025 we had just two nominations for this award. They were:
- Nigel Walker from Galloways
- Emma Taylor from Friends of the Roods
Winner
Emma Taylor from Friends of the Roods.
Environment Hero – sponsored by Lancaster & Morecambe College
Another new award for this year, the Environment Hero Award recognises those people who are passionate about our environment, whether it’s raising awareness of the challenges of climate change, encouraging more sustainable living, or ensuring that our green spaces are tidy and pleasant for communities to enjoy. This year’s nominees were:
- Nina Osswald from Lancaster and Morecambe Makerspace
- Kathy Barton from Claver Hill Community Farm
- Jay Ingram-Seal from Stanleys Community Centre
- Linda Denby from Carnforth Wombles
- Wendy Haslam from Friends of Lancaster Library
Winner
Kathy Barton from Claver Hill Community Farm.
Trustee of the Year
We say it a lot; trustees can often be forgotten, beavering away behind the scenes to ensure the smooth-running of an organisation or a project. In fact, very often when people visit the Volunteer Centre they don’t even think that trustees ARE volunteers! But they are, and we love them, and this year we had five nominees for Trustee of the Year. They were:
- Omar Jouzdan from Global Link
- Sue Saunders from Friends of The Platform, Morecambe
- Grahame Legg from Let’s BeFriends
- Wendy Haslam from Friends of Lancaster Library
- Joe Sumison from Lancashire Youth Challenge.
Winner
Joe Sumison from Lancashire Youth Challenge.
Lifetime Achievement Award- sponsored by Lancaster University
The Lifetime Achievement Award is about recognising the achievements of a volunteer across their lifetime in volunteering. It can be for a single role done over many years, or it could be for someone who has involved themselves in multiple projects and initiatives over time. And you don’t have to be at the end of your volunteering journey to receive it! This year we had five amazing nominees and they were:
- Joe Sumison
- Katherine Bevington
- Patricia Howard
- Stuart Reynolds
- Suhir Abuhajar
Winner
Katherine Bevington.
The Roger Sherlock Award for Community Inspiration
Named after the inspirational local councillor for Skerton ward, Roger Sherlock, who sadly passed away some years ago, this award recognises those individuals in our communities who see that something needs doing and just gets on with doing it, inspiring those around them to action to make a difference when a difference is needed. The nominees this year were:
- Wendy Haslam from Friends of Lancaster Library
- Jean O’Neill from Friends of Ryelands Park and Friends of Lunebank Gardens
- Patricia Howard from Parkinson’s UK Lancaster
- Geoff Trimnell from St Thomas’s Church
- Andrew Downey from Heysham Atoms ARLFC.
Winner
Patricia Howard from Parkinson’s UK Lancaster.
Young Volunteer of the Year – sponsored by HSE Advice UK
Young Volunteer of the Year recognises the amazing work being done by people between 16 and 24 across our district. Juggling volunteering alongside things like studying, work, caring responsibilities, and other challenges isn’t easy. Our nominees this year were:
- Jake Robinson from CancerCare
- Freddie Mercer from More Music
- Lydia Poole from Stanleys Community Centre
- Remy Harkensee from SAFE
Winner
This year’s judging panel just could not decide between two of our nominees and so we once again have a joint winner in 2025 with Lydia Poole from Stanleys Community Centre, and Remy Harkensee from SAFE!
Volunteer of the Year
Volunteer of the Year is for volunteers 25 years of age and above, for any reason, and includes nominees from trustees to fundraisers, from drivers to gardeners, from befrienders to IT support volunteers. It feels like we get more and more nominees for this category every year and this year we received 41! (For context, in 2023 we received 23!)
They were:
- Linda Denby from Carnforth Wombles
- Becca Snow from Good Things Collective
- Shona O’Donnell from Active Lancashire
- Emma Foster from Global Village Café
- Samantha Pritchard from Halton Neighbourhood Watch
- Kelly Kay from Bee Unique Autism
- Sarah Roskell from Bee Unique Autism
- Lucy Wiltshire from Bee Unique Autism
- Niamh Whittle from Stagestruck Theatre Company
- Elzbieta Dobrowska from Polish Saturday School
- Omar Jouzdan from Global Link
- John McCafferty from Lancaster Giants
- Dave Pattinson from Tactical Street Angels
- Stacey Vivia Pattinson from Tactical Street Angels
- Sara Dobson from Lancaster & Morecambe Repair Café
- Jennifer Kay from Royal National Lifeboat Institution
- Christine Shilton from Lancaster District CVS
- Brian Atkins from Friendsandrelationships Out and About
- Sarah McDermott from Friendsandrelationships Out and About
- Mark Howard from Friendsandrelationships Out and About
- Natalie Vranjes from Friendsandrelationships Out and About
- Steve Speakman from Marsh Community Centre
- Gail Butler from Lancashire Volunteer Partnership
- Stewart Parker from Lancashire Volunteer Partnership
- Peter Tilley from Citizens Advice North Lancashire
- Gemma McMurray from Middleton Parish Council
- Ashkan Rezaee from The Cornerstone
- Steve Robinson from Belisama’s Retreat CIC
- Agnes Novakovska from Let’s BeFriends
- Catherne Corless from Let’s BeFriends
- Ian Pyne from Bay Medical Group
- Mark Worthington from Lancaster Larder
- Maureen Worthington from Lancaster Larder
- Jeremy Floyd from Stanleys Community Centre
- Marcella Bailey from Stanleys Community Centre
- Dorothy Calverley from Stanleys Community Centre
- Patricia Howard from Parkinson’s UK Lancaster
- Stewart Reynolds from Friends of Lancaster Library
- Suhir Abuhajar from Naba Arabic School
- Geoff Trimmell from St Thomas’s Church
- Andrew Downey from Heysham Atoms
- Shawn Duckers from Bay Veterans Association.
Winner
Elzbieta Dobrowska from Polish Saturday School
Certificates of Recognition
In addition to our main category Awards, we also recognised dozens of volunteers with special Certificates of Recognition, a way to thank people for their efforts during the last year or two. We were delighted to see so many volunteer teams and individual volunteers receive these certificates!
Use the toggles below to view the full list of recipients
- The Volunteers of Bay Volunteers
- The Friends of Wise Up Workshops CIC (Wise Uppers)
- The Volunteers of Stanleys Community Centre
- The Cruse Bereavement Support Assessment Team
- The Beyond Radio Volunteer Team
- Bay Veterans Association Volunteers
- Friends of Happy Mount Park
- The Volunteers of Galloways Brews Up Social Group
- Barton Road Centre Charity Volunteers
- Halton Village Community Litter Pick Volunteers
- The Volunteers of Out in the Bay/No Labelz
- Library Volunteers
- Activity Volunteers at Vale View Day Service
- Breathe Easy Lancaster & Morecambe
- The Bay Morecambe Nature & Wellbeing Volunteer Team
- Lancaster & Morecambe College Class Representative Gold Certificate Holders
- The Volunteers of Let’s BeFriends
- The Volunteers of Eggcup
- The Volunteers of Lancaster Larder
- The Volunteers of Prop Up Project
- SAFE’s Socialease Volunteers
- The Friends of Lancaster Library Café Team
- The Friends of The Marsh
- The Volunteers of People First
- Alley Champions
- Trustees of The Club House, Morecambe
- Sylvia Dewar
- Joanna Olkuska
- Yilmaz Bala
- Hamas Shaqzi
- Rekar Osman
- Shawon Abdullah
- Brian Atkins
- Helen Easton
- Caro Slaski
- Anne Carmen
- Gail Burgess
- Helen Slinn
- Grace Cooke
- Elizabeth Coopland
- Holly Thomas
- Elizabeth Manson
- Barbara Majumdar
- Salih Taib
- Endar Kaur
- Verena Benzie
- Rod Colton
- Adam Ordonez
- Daisy Stone
- Eve Davidson
- Millie Thomson
- Chris Grubic
- Joanna Sliwicka
Event Supporters
Support via Lancashire County Council’s local member grant scheme from Councillors Charlie Edwards and Erica Lewis.
