Hannahs volunteers win awards

Friday 28 October 2016

Hannahs held their second ever Volunteer Awards at Seale-Hayne recently and celebrated the work of their dedicated volunteers.

Awards were presented to Hannahs volunteers in recognition of their amazing work in all areas of the charity. Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Dan Hoare who has been volunteering for Hannahs for three years and accessing the services at Seale-Hayne for five years. Dan is in charge of the Discovery Room at Seale-Hayne which is an information centre for carers, parents and visitors and he has also helped out in several other areas of Seale-Hayne and at many events.

Dan said

“I was overwhelmed and humbled to be presented with this award. I volunteer at Seale-Hayne because I love it and, having accessed the services and seen the amazing work Hannahs does, I wanted to give something back. Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in”.

The Over 30 Awards went to Jimmy Moir in recognition of his 100% commitment to his work in the Gallery at Seale-Hayne and at fundraising events and to Ed Matthews for his work at Seale-Hayne in the gallery, reception and marketing department. Kristy Edwards won the Under 30 Award for all her fundraising activities both at Seale-Hayne and at local events as well as her work on Access All Aerials and in the Health and Wellbeing Centre.

Resident blacksmith Rob Hills won the Skills Award for all the time he has spent spent doing metal work with Ruari Corr and other guests over the years. Creative Awards went to Matt King for bringing creativity to his work in estate management and to Richard Wood for his wonderful artistic contribution to Hannahs and his storytelling. Bond Dickinson was the winner of the Corporate Award for all their ongoing support over the years.

Special Recognition Awards were presented to Christine Carder for her sewing and social media activity, Martin Costin for his work at Seale-Hayne and his time taking guest Jamie Farr to work at South Devon Railway every week. Meanwhile Dean Mottershead and Roland Crow also received Special Recognition Awards for all their hard work on Access All Aerials.

There were several long service awards presented to Hannahs charity shop volunteers including a Lifetime Award for Janie Babcock who has just retired after 24 years volunteering in the Ivybridge charity shop. Sue Brown from the Ivybridge shop also received a 15 year long service award while several volunteers in the Estover charity shop received 10 year service awards.

Hannahs Chief Executive, Bronwen Hewitt, said

“It is difficult to put into words how amazing these volunteers are and how much they mean to us and the work we do; it was a wonderful evening which gave us the opportunity to thank them from the bottom of our hearts”.