Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Awards 2011

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Wiltshire Council and NHS Wiltshire are keen to acknowledge the contribution made by the Voluntary Community Sector (VCS) to the well-being of Wiltshire residents.

The Wiltshire VCS Awards scheme is designed to recognise good practice and good performance, encourage sharing of success stories and to celebrate the many excellent and innovative things happening in the county. The Awards Ceremony was on 4 October 2011 in the Corn Exchange in Devizes. Volunteers and community groups once again took centre stage at the ceremony which recognised their achievements and hard work.

The winners were:

Category	Winner
Partnership working	Wiltshire Good Neighbours
Most Inclusive Approach	Hope Nature Centre
Improving Lives for Carers	Carer Support Wiltshire
Community Leadership	The Unit
Volunteer of the year (Aged 24 and under)	Matthew & Katherine Gifford
Volunteer of the year (Aged 25 and over)	Judy Hible from Wiltshire Community Bank
Social Enterprise	River Bourne Community Farm CIC
The overall Winner of Winners Making a Difference	Wiltshire Good Neighbours

The best community initiative nominated by an area board was chosen by members of the audience, who were asked to decide which project they wanted to see win. They were shown films of the three shortlisted projects, which were:

• Avebury Community Shop,
• Chippenham Children’s Parliament Road Safety Campaign
• Reeves Orchard Community Project (Bratton).

The audience voted for the Reeves Orchard Community Project (Bratton) and received their award from Councillor Chris Williams.

At the end of the night John Thomson presented the Special Recognition award to Bryn and Emma Parry OBE for their work in founding and maintaining Help for Heroes.

NHS Wiltshire Chairman Tony Barron said: “The voluntary and community sector makes a huge contribution to the quality of life in Wiltshire.  It’s easy to focus on the scale of that contribution – with nearly 8,000 organisations, ranging from the very small to the very big – but it’s also important to focus on the individuals whose time, effort and dedication together make up that huge contribution.

This is what we celebrated at the VCS Awards ceremony, and I am proud to have been able to help acknowledge and recognise the value that volunteers contribute to our communities across Wiltshire.”

Pictures

Pictures from the awards ceremony can be seen on the webpages.

For further information contact: Leanne Homewood on 01225 713510 or vcs@wiltshire.gov.uk

Volunteering Strategy

Councillor John Thomson also launched the Wiltshire Volunteering Strategy and Action Plan at the ceremony.  This is the result of 6 months work by people in the public, voluntary and private sectors and went out for public consultation in the summer 2011.

• Wiltshire Volunteering Strategy and Action Plan 2011 - 2014 Volunteering Strategy 2011 1mb.

For more information about this strategy contact the volunteering support team

VCS Awards 2012

Information about the 2012 awards will be available in early spring 2012.

Is your team working on something exceptional or innovative that is helping to transform the lives of people in Wiltshire? Are you proud to share the work you are doing with your colleagues? If so, we are keen to hear from you, spread the message and celebrate!

Contact details

Communities and Voluntary Sector Support Unit
Wiltshire Council
Library HQ (Chapman's)
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge, Wiltshire
BA14 8BS

VCS@wiltshire.gov.uk

0300 456 0100

Last updated: 21 October 2011