CCT Volunteer of the Year Awards announced

29 Jan 2018

On Friday 26 January, we celebrated the outstanding contributions of our volunteers at a special event in London.

National Volunteer Day took place at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, a striking Gothic revival building in Kings Cross. Some 150 people attended the event, and took part in a series of roundtable discussions where volunteers and staff could meet and exchange feedback and ideas. We also introduced some major new initiatives, including a series of Commonwealth Lunches taking place in 52 CCT churches this spring, and our 50th anniversary celebrations next year, which will focus on the theme of ‘journeys’. The keynote speech was given by William Parsons and Guy Hayward from the British Pilgrimage Trust, who will be collaborating with the CCT on the anniversary programme. They discussed how the experience of visiting a historic church is as much about the journey as the destination, and explained how a pilgrimage can have meaning for anyone, regardless of their faith or background.

The event concluded with our annual Marsh Volunteer of the Year Awards, sponsored by the Marsh Christian Trust, and a new series of Champing Awards. Congratulations to all the winners, who are listed below.

Volunteer of the Year: North

Ruth Bertenshaw, St Mary's, Shrewsbury

Volunteer of the Year: South East

Lynda Dale, St Mary's, Stanstead Mountfitchet

Volunteer of the Year: West

Will Scott, St Swithun's, Worcester

Young Volunteer of the Year

Wouter Van Hest, National Office, London

Philip Box, West Region Office, Bristol

National Fundraising Volunteer of the Year

Barbara Townsend and Jennie Hart, All Saints, Idmiston

Volunteer Team of the Year

Friends of St Mary's Old Church, West Bergholt

Champing Volunteer of the Year: North

Alan Staniforth, Fylingdales

Champing Volunteer of the Year: South East

Phillip Lewis, Fordwich

Champing Volunteer of the Year: West

Stephen Dawson, Chiselhampton

Volunteers are the CCT’s greatest asset, and without their dedicated support we would not be able to fulfil our mission to care for historic churches and bring them back into the heart of their communities. At present, our volunteers number around 2000 – and we want to extend a big thank you to every one of you.

If you would like to find out more about volunteering with the Churches Conservation Trust, visit our Volunteers' page.

Photos by Graham White

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