Achievements recognised in rural awards
A KEGWORTH volunteer group and a Mountsorrel ‘unsung hero’ have had their hard work acknowledged in the Rural Achievement Awards.
At a ceremony at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium, the Leicestershire and Rutland Rural Community Council (RCC)’s awards celebrated the contributions of people, community groups, businesses and facilities to rural life in the area.
RCC president and Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire Lady Gretton attended the event which saw ONE Kegworth and Steve Cramp from Mountsorrel, announced as category winners.
ONE Kegworth - the group of volunteers behind the village’s ONE Weekend - bagged the Best Community Engagement award, sponsored by Smallman & Son.
The group organises a variety of events throughout the year to bring the community together including: Christmas in the Market Place, the Easter Charter Market, the ONE Kegworth event in June and a Picnic in the Park in the summer.
Steve Cramp was awarded the Unsung Heroes award.
As project leader and manager of Mountsorrel Railway, Steve has spent every spare moment of the past decade on the project to research, rebuild and preserve the railways which once served nearby quarries.
With Steve’s guidance, help from Lafarge Mountsorrel Quarry and 100,000 of volunteers’ hours, the Mountsorrel Railway is now able to operate passenger trains.
Rothley Community Library (Best Community Library), Mountsorrel’s Sorrel Youth Café (Best Community Service) and Julie Cooke, Kegworth (Unsung Heroes) were named as runners-up.
Martin Traynor OBE, RCC Chair, said: “Congratulations to all the winners and our thanks go to their fellow finalists for sharing their remarkable contributions to supporting rural life in Leicestershire and Rutland.”
The full list of award winners can be found at: www.ruralcc.org.uk