We were thrilled to host the third Building for the Future Awards recently.
We asked some of the 500 families who use our services to nominate seven spectacular professionals who work with and support their children and young people locally.
We were inundated with responses - so much so that we extended the number of awards that we usually give.
This year we were joined by over 100 people to celebrate the work of these amazing people and Sir Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, presented the awards with our charity founder and CEO Jane Holmes.
The winners were:
* Teacher of the Year: Olivia Hardy
* Teaching Assistant of the Year: Cathy Sullivan
* Therapist of the Year: Hattie Jones
* Best Activity Provider: Make Sense Drama
* Best Post 16 Provider: Bridges Resource Centre
* Best Medical Professional: Cath Hagan
* Building for the Future Special Award: Julie Hinton
Before he presented the Awards, Sir Ed Davey said:
“Everyone who is here tonight is a wonderful person. You have been helping people, going that extra mile and showing that extra level of care.
“On behalf of all the parents and all carers of children and young people: thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
He also turned to the Jane Holmes and thanked her for what she does for the disabled community.
“It is amazing you find the time to do this because anyone who is a parent of a special needs child knows how busy it is," he said.
"You’re fighting for something for your son or daughter or doing the many hours of caring so you’ve found the time to set up a charity and you help over 500 families every year and you do that without funds from the council and the government.
“You’ve done that with the support and love of people locally so a huge thank you to Jane and all the team and to everyone involved in Building for the Future.”
Jane Holmes said:
“Most of the people who run Building for the Future have a child or a close family member with disabilities.
“We therefore understand exactly what makes a person working with our children great.
“We can sense the gift that some of them have straight away and we are very rarely proved wrong.
“Parents of disabled children have to fight hard for what their children need and we often come up against people who are not as helpful as they could be, so when we do find those who do go the extra mile, who seem to care a little bit more, whose jobs become true vocations, then we want to shout about that and tell everyone how great they are.”
Our thanks to all who nominated, attended and supported our Awards Evening. £1,000 was raised on the night with a raffle.
With special thanks to our Building for the Future Awards sponsors:
Action Coach
Bridge House
David Brownlow Charitable Foundation
Green Apples Cleaning Solutions
Trademark Windows