Local heroes honoured at radio’s yearly awards night
A HOST of local heroes have been honoured after being nominated by radio listeners.
Bridge FM held its 14th glittering annual ceremony on Friday at which the achievements of inspirational members of the community were marked.
The Local Hero Awards were hosted at the Heronston Hotel and Spa by presenters Lee Jukes and Louise Apsee.
Lee said: “I’ve been involved with the Bridge FM Local Hero Awards for many years. The inspirational stories that we hear every year are just amazing. I was privileged and humbled once again to host this very prestigious event.
“Our winners this year were completely deserved winners who collected their awards for so many great reasons. We have so may great people and brilliant things happening in our county borough and we should be proud of the area that we live in.
“The Bridge FM Local Hero Awards provides us with a platform to shout about these amazing things and amazing people! Congratulations to all our winners!”
This year’s winners included Ethan ConnetWhite, who was awarded the Outstanding Young Achiever Award for his work with Stand Against Bullying. He is 16 years old and from Bridgend.
Julie Banks won the Adult Achiever Award. Julie is a PCSO from Maesteg and, after hearing about a fund to help Kelly Maybury get a special treatment for cancer that isn’t available on the NHS, she set to work on the green ribbon campaign.
Tracey Davies received the award for Contribution to Charity. She has done 12 sky-dives, climbed Snowdon twice, climbed Ben Nevis, run the Cardiff half marathon, trekked to Patagonia, biked 400km around New Zealand and later this year she will be trekking to Machu Picchu. To date, she has raised over £32,000 for Velindre Cancer Care Centre.
Bridge FM also awarded a very special Superhero Award to the man who worked very hard for the Bridgend County Borough Branch of the Royal British Legion and their Poppy Appeal for many years.
He would arrange the collections at many points throughout the borough, co-ordinating them and collecting himself, turning it into a well-oiled machine that would collect record sums of money. Just over a year ago, Andy Reekie was sadly diagnosed with cancer but, it didn’t stop him. In 2016, while battling cancer, he helped raise a record-breaking sum of over £71,000 for the poppy appeal.
Earlier this year Andy passed away. His wife Julie and daughter Siobhan were incredibly proud to receive his honour as part of the legacy that Andy left behind. Other winners were: Teacher of the Year – Cath Morgan
Outstanding Contribution to Sport – Maesteg Canoe Club
Good Neighbour Award – Robert George
Child of Courage – ElliaGrace Destiny Rainbow
Outstanding Bravery Sward – Stephanie Hughes
Business Person of the Year – Samantha Kingdon and Ceri Simmons – Iced Cake Parlour, Maesteg
Mum of the Year – Stacey Carr
Dad of the Year – Mike Furness
Outstanding Contribution to the Community – Alison Mawby – KPC Youth, Pyle.