The Pioneer Group together with the Greenwood Academy are thrilled to announce an incredible 22 winners of the Castle Vale Lockdown Champions awards. The awards celebrate the outstanding individuals and organisations whose selfless acts have made a real difference to the residents of Castle Vale during the past 18 months.
During the nominations process, Castle Vale residents were asked to name residents who they thought went the extra mile for their community and to cite the reasons why they were nominating each individual or organisation. The nominations were split into six award categories including the: My Lockdown Rock award, Above and Beyond award, Unsung Heroes award, Organisation award and Young Person award.
Numerous individuals, spanning different generations and a variety of organisations were nominated for the awards. Below are some of the heroic acts performed by a few of the winners.
234th Castle Vale Scouts
234th Castle Vale Scouts have been busy all through lockdown doing online scouting sessions with all of their sections. Their range of activities has allowed young people to carry on their adventures while developing life and interpersonal skills. Having recently welcomed over 45 scouts back, it has been a great success!
Lee Crofts
Lee was an absolute hero to many during the lockdown and still continues to be one. Always with the community in mind, he has supplied food to the vulnerable, activity packs for children, DJ and quiz nights for residents and has even been around on his bike spreading cheer.
Pegasus Primary School
This school supported the community’s most vulnerable families ensuring they had food, gas and electricity, adequate clothing and bedding, social worker support, games to entertain the children, additional home learning, and (even in some cases) a place to live! The team really is at the heart of the community.
Callum Smith
Callum spent his birthday money on those who were in need through the COVID pandemic. By supporting the Erdington Academy initiative, Callum bought supplies for the food bank with his own money, helping many families in the community.
The Castle Vale Lockdown Champions awards were led by Trevor Evans, Community Manager at Greenwood Academy, who has lived on Castle Vale for most of his life and has worked at Greenwood Academy for 20 years. He commented:
After such a challenging year, these awards are a heartening and positive celebration of the efforts of some of our local heroes who have stepped up and gone above and beyond. I’d like to thank everyone who nominated. To the wonderful winners for their heroic acts during such difficult times, I would like to say on behalf of the Castle Vale community how grateful we are of their contribution.
The full list of winners and award categories are below:
Above and Beyond award – recognises “knights in shining armour” that came through to support another individual or family and went that extra mile.
- Gary Kilday
- Lee Crofts
- Lisa Haynes
- Wayne Haynes
- Rebecca Winkless
- Sean Jordan
- Sophie Swann
- Jayne Swann
- TiggyWinkles Day Nursery
My Lockdown Rock award – celebrates someone who kept others going and has been a constant support during lockdown.
- Deborah Margaret Watkins
- Grace Selby
Organisation award – recognises an organisation that was a go-to group for individuals or families when they needed it the most.
- 234th Castle Vale Scouts
- Kick n Mix
- Pegasus Primary School
Unsung Heroes award – for those that work hard behind the scenes, who don’t want the plaudits. This was an opportunity for them to be recognised for their endeavours during lockdown.
- Annette Brecknall
- Berwood Court
- Carlene Pountney
- Eden Court
- Kelly Greenshields
- The Creative Arts Faculty
Young Person award – celebrates young heroes, their resilience, acts of kindness and bravery.
- Callum Smith
- Judge Lamb