Good for Leigh Winners 2022/23

The 2022/23 winners of the Good for Leigh awards were:

ANN CUSHION AND HELEN LEADER- for supporting the Leigh Community with animal welfare specifically (Tilly’s Angels) for lost dogs.

LEIGH LIONS – for funding public defibrillators, organising the Leigh Regatta and supporting the Town Council and the other community groups over many years.

SAM BENNETT – as group leader of Leigh’s St John Ambulance Cadets. Increasing membership and supporting and leading cadets of all ages, particularly during the Covid pandemic.

KARRAN PRINCE – For developing and running the Community Larder hosted at LCC.

DAVE WATSON – for the support regarding the skatepark extension and refurbishments. Dave and his team host lesson in the Skate Park donating a commission towards the upkeep of the park.

Their community group supports all ages of skaters and users.

MADDIE CREASE – for bringing the Listening Room to life in the Leigh community. Maddie hosts the monthly evenings and books featured artists for all to enjoy.

SOPHIE CLARK – for her commitment to helping the community and less-abled. For her volunteer work at Foresters to pack food parcels for the homeless, soldiers away on duty and for those less fortunate in society. For her involvement in many aspects of school life and most recent her help at One Love Project and Soup Kitchen in Southend.

GEORGE FURNESS – for being an invaluable friend to Guy Russell during difficult time for him and for being kind and caring.

GUY RUSSELL – for being such a strength to his family during a long period of family illness. For being independent and strong during that very difficult family time especially as he was unable to visit his mother and for making his parents proud.

JESSICA HALLS – for seeing the value in friendships and always being kind.

ANNIE SMITH – for her volunteering services to help out Badgers Den, a special needs community respite club for youngsters, with down syndrome.

ELIZABETH LILIAN BLAHAKOVA – for her student ethos of always being ready for school, checking homework provision and enjoying the learning process.

Picture of Awarded Volunteers and Chairman Keith Evans

Good for Leigh Winners 2021/22

The 2021/22 winners of the Good for Leigh awards were: 

• Jack and Theo Chapman - sent round notes to all their neighbours during lockdown offering their help to collect shopping, walk dogs or to provide friendly phone calls. This launched a messaging group for their street and they still keep in touch with their neighbours regularly. Jack was the recipient of our Belfairs Citizenship Award in 2021.
• Debbie Fox - can often be seen litter picking throughout Leigh and we want to recognise her for her efforts to make Leigh a cleaner and tidier place.
• Friends of Love Leigh Cliffs - Since the FOLLC group was established there have been many hundreds of man hours put into rejuvenating the area, and we wish to recognise the members for their hard work.
• Rose Johnson - Rose was a nominee for our Citizenship Award that we run through Belfairs Academy. She is a fully committed art student, who has raised money for art enrichment projects and has volunteered fortwo years at Create 98 to help teach younger children to draw.
• James Paul - James, an excellent student from Belfairs who was nominated for the Citizenship Award, is dedicated to making a difference to climate change and plays a huge part in the school's eco warrior club. He inspires his peers and leads by example.
• Carolyn Sherwin - Carolyn was the founding member of the Friends of Love Leigh Cliffs Group and has worked hard to build the group membership up, making a real difference to the Cliffs area.

      

Good for Leigh Winners 2020/21

The 2020/21 winners of the Good for Leigh awards were:

• Belle Sewfragettes - made masks and scrubs during the start of the pandemic when there was a desperate need.
• Eve Kinder - has been made an ambassador for Southend Young Carers, as she helps her sibling with learning difficulties.
• Gracie and Alvina Line - help at the One Love Soup Kitchen. They continued to serve meals throughout lockdown even during great personal sadness.
• Leigh Tin Teams - from the clap for NHS on Thursday nights, a group of neighbours clubbed together to start collecting food for the local foodbanks. This scheme has continued throughout lockdown and is now being extended into Shoebury.
• Marguerite Drive Street Group - Born out of the first lockdown, the group hold foodbank collections and do regular litter picks on their road and other neighbourly initiatives.
• Linda Catling - has brought an amazing amount of cheer to residents of Leigh with her themed crocheted postbox "hats." She also handed out treats and flowers on Mother's Day.
• Liz Evans and Linda Mitchell - Former receptionists of Leigh Community Centre, who recently retired, have carried on working with the Council to support the members of our Community Transport Scheme with regular friendly phone calls during lockdown.
• Madison Edwards - a year 7 student, who helped cook for the homeless during lockdown. As well as delivering food parcels and buying colouring books and pens for homeless people living in the woods. She also delivered hundreds of council leaflets to the elderly and vulnerable.
• Michael Cranston - Michael is the founder of the "Smileigh" Facebook group, created as a positive outlet for local people during lockdown. The group has gone on to gain thousands of members worldwide and has also raised money for local charities.
• Millie Whipps - Last Christmas, teenager Millie was so concerned about homeless people that she appealed to friends and family for backpacks and items to fill them with to donate to HARP, as well as buying items with her own money. Millie was also the recipient of our 2020 Citizenship award that we run in partnership with Belfairs Academy.

picture of awarded volunteers, Chairman Douglas Cracknell and Vice Chairman Keith Evans

Good for Leigh Winners 2019/20

The 2019/20 winners of the Good for Leigh awards were: 

• Barbara Armitage - a lifetime of voluntary work with a variety of community groups
• Friends of Leigh Library Gardens (FOLLG) - for the voluntary work done to rejuvenate the gardens 
• Jessica and Gracie - two sisters in primary school who have been conducting local litter picks
• John Cannon - a diligent all weather street cleaner in Leigh
• Kim Wilkins & Viv Porthouse - event organisers and fundraisers for St. Clements Church 
• Russell Hallmark - a key member of the FOLLG group and a dedicated volunteer for the Town Council's Community Transport Scheme and the Over 60's Social Club
• Sacha Edwards - positive activities manager for Southend YMCA and runs the Town Council's youth club

Good for Leigh Winners 2018/19

The 2018/19 winners of Good for Leigh Awards were: 

• Danielle Austin - for launching Litterless Leigh litter picking group
• LOSITA - for bringing the independent business community in Leigh together 
• Allan Webb - for his long standing efforts and dedication to The Art Ministry Charity 
• Rockamilly - for demonstrating joyful community spirit at the Leigh Lights event 
• Blade Education - for their work with local schools on their poppy projects  

Good for Leigh Winners 2017/18

The 2017/18 winners of Good for Leigh Awards were: 

• Nicholas Mounsey - a Belfairs student who was assisted an injured motor cyclist after an accident 
• Oasis Coffee House - for raising a considerable sum through their suspended meal scheme 
• The Royal British Legion - Leigh-on-Sea Branch - for their year round work to promote and raise funds for the Poppy Appeal 
• Uniformed Volunteers in Leigh-on-Sea - to thank all the leaders and helpers from Girl Guiding Groups (Rainbows, Brownies and Guides) and Scout Groups (Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Sea Scouts) in the Leigh area 

Belfairs Academy Good Citizenship Award 

In 2018, Leigh-on-Sea Town Council launched a new award in partnership with Belfairs Academy to recognise some of the outstanding pupils at the school. The award is for "Good Citizenship" and each year we ask the staff at Belfairs to nominate their chosen students. A nomination is made for each of the schools 3 colleges; named after Leigh ships – Defender, Resolute and Endeavour and also a Sixth-Form nomination.

2022 Winner

SOPHIE CLARK

Nominations for 2021 were received from parents and teachers of the school.

For her commitment to helping the community and less-abled. For her volunteer work at Foresters to pack food parcels for the homeless, soldiers away on duty and for those less fortunate in society. For her involvement in many aspects of school life and most recent her help at One Love Project and Soup Kitchen in Southend.

2021 Winner

Jack Chapman

Nominations for 2021 were received from parents and teachers of the school.

Just before the first full lockdown, Jack and his brother typed a note, asking if anyone needed help, shopping collected, dogs walked, or even a telephone call, just to say hello, that they would be there to help in any way that they could, safely of course. They hand delivered this note to every house and flat in our (very long!) road and surrounding roads.

We had a lovely response and it was the catalyst for a WhatsApp group to start, where if anyone needed anything, they just asked on the WhatsApp group and the whole street was able to reach each other.   We meet (virtually) so many new people and especially a wonderful lady, who we kept in touch with on a regular basis and helped her out with some shopping and even took her a few puzzles to help keep her busy!

It was really nice to know they helped some people who would have been extremely lonely and vulnerable during lockdown, we were extremely proud of Jack and his brother Theo.

2020 Winner

Millie Whipps

Nominations for this years award were made by parents while students were learning from home. This nomination was submitted by a parent of Millie's friend. Councillors selected her as their winner for her philanthropic approach to helping local people. 

Millie Whipps is a student in Year 7. At Christmas Millie was so concerned for homeless people that she appealed to friends and family for back packs and items that she could use to fill these. Her idea was to fill the backpack with useful things that she thought that a homeless person may need - she suggested a blanket, woolly hat/gloves as well as toiletry and sanitary products. She also used some of her own money to buy new things. On Christmas eve Millie took these backpacks down to HARP in Southend so that they could distribute the full backpacks to people that were homeless over Christmas. Millie is such a kind and generous girl who shows great empathy for people in the community who are less fortunate than her. She often raises money for charities by doing cake sales and such like and I am sure that she has probably been doing something equally kind and thoughtful during lockdown. Millie does things like the above because she genuinely wants to help others. She doesn't expect any gratitude or reward or recognition in return and would probably be embarrassed to learn that I had sent this nomination. It is for all these reasons that she is so deserving of this award.

2019 Winner

Maddie Carter

Maddie is helping to run an Art club at West Leigh School, once a week after school.  Maddie worked with Mrs Lilleker, discussing ideas and how best to deliver mini Art lessons etc. before she started helping.

Maddie has helped at West Leigh for 2 terms.  This has involved both Infant and Junior school children, in a group of 10-12 students.  Maddie has been involved in helping in a number of different themes including Slime, Solar System and Nations.

Maddie also helps out in the Holidays with Art Parties, through Creative Station.

Maddie hasn’t always found school easy, experiencing friendship issues, she is also a quiet young lady and can lack in confidence.  It is an encouraging step forward seeing her use her qualities in such a constructive way.  Also promoting Belfairs in a positive way outside of the Academy.