Time to Shine!
Celebrating the achievement of disabled people of all ages, who deserve recognition for their achievements and contributions in the community. The awards were presented on the International day of Disabled People on Saturday 3rd December 2011 at Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham. Awards were in the following seven categories:
- Academic Award which recognises people who have applied extra effort towards achieving an educational goal.
- Arts Award which recognises people that have shown special effort and dedication in an art project.
- Carers Award which recognises a carer who has shown excellent care and showed a genuine understanding of the needs of others.
- Community Award which recognises a person who has shown an outstanding level of service and support in the borough.
- Something Special award which recognises someone special who is a genuine inspiration to those around them. This involves a person who has gone the extra mile, offered support at a difficult time, helped someone find their way or is simply a friendly face.
- Sports award recognises a person who has shown exceptional enthusiasm, commitment and team spirit when participating in a sport.
- Volunteer award which recognises a volunteer who has made an exceptional contribution, gone that extra mile to help clients and/or an organisation.
We had 35 people nominated for our first Time to Shine! Award ceremony event. People’s experiences differed but all of those nominated and those who got an award or highly commended- all had amazing stories. Below are some pictures of those nominated.
Richmond AID ‘Time to Shine!’ awards was held at Orleans House Gallery on Saturday 3rd December 2011. The awards were presented by Sue Ball – Trustee at Richmond AID.
Highly Commended Award for Volunteering received by Edward Boamah. Edward has shown great spirit and positive attitude in over coming his own disability and enriching lives of other people.
Arts Award nominee Valentina Henriques – award presented by Sue Ball. Valentina achieved her bronze and silver arts awards through her hard work and commitment, as well as completion of wide ranges of tasks.
Carers Award – Mrs Bridget Fairburn and Mrs Wendy Vassar who were jointly nominated for their work as Learning support assistants in Stanley Infants school. They have done a great job supporting students and were nominated by parents and were described as ‘truly dedicated and very inspirational’.
Highly Commended Award for Sports went to Mr Frederick Dennis Moore who over the years performed in several marathons, swam the channel, participated in three triathlons and is a constant inspiration for other disabled people.
Volunteer Award nominee Yvonne Nairn who has been nominated for her tireless work with the Richmond Back Pain group. She has dealt with phone calls and finances. Yvonne is the Social Secretary taking bookings for meetings. She also does most of the baking!
Arts Award nominee Brenda Andrasz who has been nominated for her hard work and commitment shown as a regular work experience volunteer at Orleans House Gallery.
Volunteer Award nominee Donna Brown. Donna, who volunteers once a week at ‘ Me, Too & Co’ and has been volunteering for the past 2 years, has been part of the Art and Music group. Donna loves children and enjoys being in the position to be around them and help. Donna is a wheelchair user with profound and complex disabilities and while her comunication is not verbal her radiant smile beams when she is enjoying things and when she is in company.
Volunteer Award nominee Jack Kafka. Jack is a young man with learning disabilities, has a passion for cars and loves watching passing traffic. Jack has been involved with the Postal SOS working as a mailing assistant as well as volunteering at Age UK distributing leaflets around the borough.
Jake Wass-Cornish receives the Highly Commended for his hard work, enthusiasm and commitment shown as a volunteer at Oreans House Gallery.
The Academic Award goes to Kimberly Spiking. Kimberly is a student of Clarendon School. Kimberly has achieved an AQA Unit Award in bicycle maintenance and is working through the course again to achieve an AQA Unit Award in Business Enterprise, along with a 10 hour placement at a local bicycle shop. She has gained skills in maintaining, stripping down and building bicycles. She has learnt what it takes to start up a business as well as the importance of advertising.
Art Award nominee Milo Whitehead has been nominated for his hard work and commitment as a regular work experience volunteer at Orleans house Gallery. Milo makes an invaluable contribution to the work of the gallery.
Ray Stonehill and Carol Carey receive a Highly Commended for the Community Award for their work in being both pro-active in the community and in welcoming people on board to socialize with fellow MS sufferers. They make people very welcome and at ease. Both Carol and Ray ran more than one MS branch. This they do without asking for anything in return, making people with MS lives’ that little bit easier.
Community Award nominee Theresa Rowe is ‘officially retired’ and despite numerous health conditions, Theresa has put in a staggering amount of time and effort into the work that Richmond AID do around the borough.
The Highly Commended Something Special Award was presented to Clive Barbary for his genuine willingness to help others, overcome difficult challenges and inspire those around him.
The Something Special Award was jointly presented to Luke Jefferson and Evie Hinde. Despite losing his sight over the last couple of years, Luke has shown extraordinary courage and determination. Evie, Luke’s friend, has shown an insurmountable amount of support, and won this award as a result of her exceptional sensitivity and empathy.
Jacqueline Diaper was nominated in the Volunteering category. Despite serious health problems, Jacqueline has show a remarkable amount of dedication in her volunteering for Whitton Network.
Pia Jenk was nominated for an award in the Volunteering category. For number of years, Pia has been a volunteer for FiSH Neighbourhood Care. She has had to overcome communication and mobility barriers but has always remained cheerful and willing to help others.
The Highly Commended Volunteering Award was received by Isa Martinez. Isa is the Volunteer Chair of her local branch for Guide Dogs For The Blind and helps co-ordinate fund raising for the Richmond area. Although Isa is blind in one eye, with her sight failing in the other, she remains positive and is determined to regain her independence.
Sue Ball received a nomination for the Community Award in recognition for the work she has done for Richmond AID over the past 15 years. Sue has made an incredible contribution to Richmond AID raising the profile of disabled people in Richmond.
(not pictured) Last but not least.The following awards were also given to:
Zoe Diprose nominated for achieving her Bronze Arts Award through her hard work and commitment.
Eddie Newson nominated for his hard work and commitment shown in achieving the Bronze and silver Arts Award.
Richard Kember for simply being a great man of tremendous energy and experience in serving in the community and in the work of RUIL.
Ron Millar nominated for Community Award for his work as Treasurer of Together as One. Ron has been treasurer since they started the User-led Drop in service in Twickenham in the spring of 2010. Keeping the daily accounts opening the centre Mondays and Thursdays and locking up -Ron is a brick which without the service would founder.
Sports Award nominee Tim Farr. Tim is a dedicated skier who is ranked among the top 50 disabled skiers in the world. His achievements include the British Slalom Champion in 2008 and competing in the Vancouver Winter Paralympic Games 2010. Tim has great inner strength and fortitude and overcome injuries that have made him more determined to succeed. Tim wasn’t able to attend the Award ceremony due to being in Austria training for the London Paralympics.
Sheila Parmar who has been nominated by the whole Volunteer Centre Team at RCVS for the outstanding contribution she makes to the running of the service. Sheila who has been volunteering in varied administrative functions that are vital to operation has been achieving all this despite being significantly visually impaired.To Sheila goes the Volunteer Award.
Simon Barber has been nominated for his volunteering at Botanic Gardens Conservation Institute since July 2009 and has regularly helped once a week for 2 years. He is reliable, hard-working and committed. He works for various projects for BGCI and is really part of their team now.He is also reliable and accurate which is vital to the work he is doing for him.
Shirley Smith has volunteered at various organisations during her time with the Richmond CVS Supported Volunteering Project.. She volunteered for a number of years at Kingston Hospital in the children’s Outpatients Department until the unit relocated-this move was too faraway to travel too. She is a wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy, she is a lovely, positive person who is huge inspiration and won’t let nothing stop her doing what she wants.
Rebecca Ryan Receives a Highly Commended award for volunteering. Rebecca has mild learning disability and some physical difficulties but proves to people that she can do whatever she sets her mind to. She is studying a Dj-ing course at her local youth club and for a volunteering qualification. She helps other young disabled people from her youth club learn travel routes to help them become more independent. She is an inspiration to many and aside she’s just lovely, positive girl!
Volunteer Award nominee Gareth Savin for his hard work as Vice Chairman of RUILs which helps people on direct Payments sustain an independent life.. Through perseverance he has managed to live independently, adapt his computer to suit his needs and he is able to confront buses, trains and roads. He passes his own experiences on to those who are suddenly exposed to an illness-be it mental or physical.