COMMUNITY GROUP: People who work together for a common cause to help improve people’s lives, such as community associations, groups and sports organisations.
THE three shortlisted nominees who will be vying to be named this year’s top Community Group at the Community Stars Awards have been named.
The award recognises groups run by the community for the benefit of their local around across the Bradford district.
The winner will be announced at the Community Stars Awards night on Wednesday, December 6, at the Midland Hotel, where they will be presented with the Bradford Medal.
Voting is open until Friday, November 27, and the winner will be the group readers deemed most worthy of receiving the prize.
Right click on the voting form below and select 'save image as...' to save a printable version to your computer.
Entries were whittled down to a shortlist of three, and the nominees for the award are Friends of Holme Wood, Sing from the Heart, and Friends of Greengates and Apperley Bridge.
Friends of Holme Wood has been nominated for the award for its work in the area to help the community have more pride for the area and take more care of it.
Suzanne Elster, who nominated the group, said: “Together this group works hard to find funding and create events that aim to make the Holme Wood estate a nicer place to live.
“They managed to bringing down funding to enable us to save the Holme Wood library, refurnish it and provide more community focused activities there.
“The group regularly runs family events like the big lunch, family fun days and a dog show as well as organising clean up, litter picking and re-painting events to keep the area nice.”
Sing from the Heart is a singing group for adults with learning and physical disabilities.
Adam Tasker, who nominated the group, said: “The group has more than 20 people singing at weekly rehearsals and is run by a husband and wife volunteer team, Maralyn and Alvin Adey.
“Many of the singers have complex disabilities and everyone who attends sing. The ethos is that if you can make a sound, you can sing and the members choose which songs to sing.
“The impact that this group has on the lives of its members is profound and deserves recognition.”
Mr and Mrs Adey set the group up for their disabled son to be able to sing as other choir groups in Bradford would not accept him.
Mrs Adey said to be nominated was “amazing and fantastic”.
She said: “We’re a unique group and all our members absolutely love coming to sing every week and taking part in our performances.
“It’s not just singing, our members gain confidence, independence, responsibility, and it helps them integrate.
“To win would be wonderful, we set the group up for our son Christian who died three years ago, so the group is his legacy and it would make it all worth doing.”
Friends of Greengates and Apperley Bridge was set up to provide residents in the area with a series of events and groups to bring the community together, as well as creating and protecting public spaces such as the Greengates War Memorial and a new community garden for Greengates.
Michael Frazer, from Apperley Bridge, put forward the group for nomination and praised a number of its members for their work in the community.
He said: “Their personal drive and ambition makes things happen that otherwise might stall or never happen.
“Nadia Dyson-Mebrouk has a strong network of contacts which she uses to recruit the right people for the right tasks.
“She is a great manager of people and uses her inter personal skills to coax out of people abilities they may not have realised they possess.
“Janet Kalay always gives her time freely, every week she helps to maintain Greengates Community Garden and War Memorial Garden and carries our regular litter picks
“She embodies ‘localism in action’ – she helps change her local community and make it a better place to live and work.”
Mrs Dyson-Mebrouk added: “The group has brought a lot of retired and older people together making life better for the people of Greengates.
“Five years ago there were no community groups, but now there are plenty for people to join, it’s been amazing.
“When I found out we’d been nominated I was astounded!”
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