By Jill Stocks
Individuals and community groups were last night presented with their Heart of Horsforth Awards, acknowledging exceptional work in the community.
The awards covered five categories, and honour the work groups and individuals do in the Horsforth community.
Before presenting the awards Horsforth Town Council Chair Simon Dowling said: “One of the many joys of the town council is that we have an awards scheme which was rebranded last year to the Heart of Horsforth Awards.
“The whole aim of the awards is to recognise the contribution that members of the community make to our community and further afield as well.”
The first award was the under 21s Volunteering award, which was presented to Victória Martinho Vieira Da Cunha. Victoria was successful in reaching the last 12 candidates in the running to be Children’s Young Mayor. As well as this she also presented her manifesto about children being active to Horsforth Town Council and the Leeds City Council Outer North West Committee – a hugely brave thing to do.
Cllr Dowling said: “Victoria was nominated by a number of town councillors. She came to speak at a town council meeting in October last year. She spoke well at Leeds City Council’s Outer North West Committee.
“Anyone who has ever done any public speaking knows for an 11 year old to come and speak not only to town councillors but also to city councillors and other decision makers in the city takes great courage”.
The Volunteering award for over 21s was presented to Janet Little and her team of volunteers involved in Horsforth Community Garden.
The group maintain the garden in Horsforth Hall Park, growing fruit and vegetables, providing information on growing produce and other gardening matters and providing a peaceful place for people to enjoy.
Cllr Dowling told the audience: “This group of people have been fantastic in transforming a part of Horsforth Hall Park into a lovely garden and it’s bringing benefit to a lot of people within the area. Getting a lot of people out and getting a lot of people interested in gardening.”
The business award, a new award this year, went to Right at Home, and was accepted by Managing Director Rachel Critchley. Right at Home provide a range of services across North Leeds, Otley and Horsforth, such as elderly care, a companionship service and dementia care, geared to allowing clients to continue to live independently at home.
Simon said “I had the joy of meeting this organisation at a dementia friendly event last year and I recommend anyone going to an event with them this year. When i attended last year it was quite moving and quite thought provoking.”
The community award was presented to Horsforth Churches Together. Churches Together are made up of eight churches, of various denominations, in the Horsforth area who, along with Leeds Trinity University Chaplaincy, work as a partnership on a range of community events and projects, including Horsforth Farmers Market, Horsforth Town of Sanctuary and MHA Communities Horsforth, amongst many other projects.
Cllr Dowling said of Horsforth Churches Together: “Whenever anything is happening they are involved somewhere whether it be gala, walk of witness or the farmers market. This organisation supports and works with everyone in our community from the youngest to the eldest. They epitomise what bringing community together is all about.”
The final award, the Environmental award, also a new award for this year, was given to Horsforth Climate Action to recognise the work they do in the community to make Horsforth a greener and more sustainable place to live and take action to tackle climate change. They are one of eight climate action hubs in the city of Leeds and are involved in projects such as Horsforth Climate Action Saturdays.
Cllr Dowling said of Horsforth Climate Action: “The need to act with the climate emergency is greater than ever and the work that this organisation does is just amazing, supporting and helping Horsforth become greener.”
After presenting the awards Simon was keen to thank and acknowledge all of the individuals and organisations in the area who work hard in the community:
“There are many organisations in Horsforth that make a huge difference and tonight we have only seen a handful. If you are aware of any other organisations that you know that are deserving of these awards please do nominate. Don’t wait till October to start nominating now and make my decision even harder than it was this year.”
Make your nomination via the Horsforth Town council website.
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