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Noorin Ahktar
Noorin Ahktar wants to change Britain. She goes out interviewing the people at the top – leaders of the council, councillors, public service providers and holds them to account in a way accessible to her community. Her aim is to make sure some communities know about the changes being made in public services – she promotes and raises awareness in ethnic communities – she now has a rogramme called ‘Community Time’. She has set up a blog, and uses radio and tv channels to make the short programmes in English, Urdu, Punjabi, and a number of different languages.
Noorin thinks some communities are wrongly perceived as ‘hard to reach’ – she challenges this point of view with her truly innovative and brilliant work. Her inspiration is the fact if people of aware of what is going on around them, they will have the knowledge to be able to do things.
Manjit Singh nominated Noorin for the active citizen award, one of the shortlist categories for Birmingham’s Local Hearts Awards.
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Chris Birdsell and Bob Flack
Chris Birdsell isn’t your average pub landlord. Along with running the Varsity pub in Harborne, Chris is chairman of the local “pub watch” which alerts police to incidents on the High Street, he’s on the committee for the Harborne Traders Association, Harborne Village Centre Partnership and on the committee for Harborne Carnival. He’ll know who to put you in touch with, and regularly opens up the pub for community events.
Harborne Village Centre Manager, Bob Flack, nominated Chris in the active citizen category for the Birmingham Local Hearts award, because he recognised the innovation he has for local projects and the ability to drive projects to their end. Chris recently started a local artists evening – allowing those in the community to showcase their work. He said he always has people coming into the pub asking for help, and often he will find ways to help the people help themselves – opening the pub in the evening for them to hold fundraising events and meetings, and putting them in touch with the right people.
Chris has been described as the eyes and ears of the community, and said his motivation has to be the people. Here’s his story.
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Dolores Pinkney and Kevin Duffy
This is the story of Dolores Pinkney, 58, who runs the Dojo project in Handworth. She has been working tirelessly for her community since she moved to Birmingham with her family in the 1960s, and now she has been nominated by Kevin Duffy for Birmingham City Council’s Local Hearts Awards in the active citizen category. Read the rest of this entry »
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Joshua Barwell and Carl Sheward
Carl Sheward and Joshua Barwell are two Junior Volunteer playworkers at Pype Hayes Community Focus. Both 16-years-old, when they are not studying for AS-levels they are spending their free time getting those younger than them involved, doing fun days and activities. Read the rest of this entry »
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Jan Quigley and Barry Toon
Starting community work in the 1960s, Barry Toom has had the chance to see how community work and attitudes towards it has changed through the decades. A tireless worker for the Bournbrook Community Safety Project, as well as the TARA neighbourhood forum, Barry Toon feels like a veteran in community work – and now his years has been acknowledged by being shortlisted for the Lifetime Achievement award, for Birmingham’s Local Hearts Awards, nominated by Jan Quigley. Read the rest of this entry »
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Joanne Proudler and John Barron
John Barron is 90 years old and has spent a lifetime working for his community. He has volunteered at St Mary’s Hospice in Selly Park since it opened, and also introduced the Annual Flag Day – a street collection day for the hospice – which he has been running for over 25 years and raised nearly £300,000. He said when you see a need in the community you want to fill it – and once you have a acceptance it is a good idea – you have the determination to see it through. Read the rest of this entry »
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Maureen Murphy and Gary Ladbrooke
Maureen Murphy is not one to sit quietly and wait for things to happen – after loudly campaigning for a new crossing in Minworth, she was approached by the Walmley Residents Association and has been their chairperson for the last 20 years.
Now, she says, she still gets quiet satisfaction when she sees people crossing the road safely, and is encouraged to continue giving a voice to people who don’t know where to go. Senior Constituency Manager for Sutton Coldfield – Gary Ladbrooke – has nominated Maureen for Birmingham’s Local Hearts Award for the lifetime achievement award – a recognition of her tireless work in the community. Maureen was first interviewed by the Grassroots Channel in 2005.
Here she talks to us about what keeps her going, and why she thinks making a stand is so important.
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Aimee Coakley first came across the Hawksley “young vols” as a small child. She watched them working in her neighbourhood in Kings Norton in Birmingham and wanted to be one.
Now she is and has already traveled as far afield as France and India, cleaned streets, helped people keep their garden tidy and supported friends and neighbours. Read the rest of this entry »
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Involve is Northfield’s Young Peoples Forum – it was set up in 2005 for 12-19-year-olds.
the group is given money by local government, which they then distribute to young people to help them run various activities or projects which they would not otherwise have been able to do. Through this they help young people develop a number of skills such as organisation, teamwork and communication skills. Read the rest of this entry »
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Nicole White and Rourke Holmes have been training adults. They volunteer with different organisations in the Erdington Constituency of the City of Birmingham to help they appreciate how young people view the world.
The aim is very simple, to improve the relationship between government services and the young people who use them in Erdington. Read the rest of this entry »
