A number of staff and volunteers attended the Annual Youth Matters Awards Ceremony hosted by YMCA England & Wales on Friday 5th November. Over 350 people gathered in a Central London Hotel representing YMCAs from across England & Wales.
The host for the event was Paul Sinha one of the masterminds from “The Chase”. He very ably kept the show moving along efficiently with his dry humour. Guest presenters of prizes included the secretary general of the World YMCA Carl Sanvee and Secretary General of Europe, Juan Simoes Iglesias.
YMCA Burton were up for three awards. These included Family work Project of the Year with nomination of our Mediation and Counselling services and Covid Community hero where Tom Foster was nominated. Although we did not win in these categories, to get to the Semi Finals was amazing. It truly was a major achievement to get to the final three in any of the categories, so well done to our staff Tom Foster, Peter O’Reilly and Sarah Pettifer.
There was a very special award given called The Red Triangle Award. This was a surprise award for long, exceptional and dedicated service to the YMCA, which went to Kath Stokes from YMCA Burton who retired earlier this year. She was completely shocked and this is very well-deserved award which earned the first standing ovation of the night.
Finally came the last award for the YMCA of the year. We were up against two larger YMCAs; Derbyshire and One YMCA in Hertfordshire. When the magic words Burton YMCA were announced, we all jumped to our feet as did the rest of the room and we all went up on stage to receive the award! It was my honour to thank our clients, staff, volunteers, Trustees, supporters and funders for the part you all played in serving the needs of those who we work with every day.
There are currently 101 YMCAs in England & Wales. The YMCA of the Year is a hugely significant award and represents many years of work by the whole team focussing on the needs of all of those in our community. Congratulations to all involved on this tremendous achievement.
All the best,
Paul Laffey
CEO YMCA Burton
