- Dame Barbara Windsor, Wayne Hemingway, Lesley Owusu and Ledley King join Mayor at Team London Awards to recognise volunteers’ efforts to improve life in the capital
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, today commended London’s most generous volunteering stars who help to make the city’s communities stronger and more cohesive, as he recognised outstanding individuals, young people and organisations at the Team London Awards.
Actress Dame Barbara Windsor, Designer Wayne Hemingway MBE, Team GB Sprint Athlete Lesley Owusu and footballer Ledley King, who are all Team London Ambassadors, joined the Mayor at the annual celebration and presented awards to the winners, including:
- Trailblazers Mentor Volunteers, a group of mentors who support young adult offenders being released from prison. Over 70 mentors have given more than 6,000 hours of their time in the past year, helping their mentees prepare for release, set goals, build relationships and tackle issues that may lead them to commit further crimes.
- Ahmad Goudzari, who runs a ‘Work Club’ in his local area of Hanwell to help unemployed people with their job search and interview skills. Ahmad has already volunteered over 900 hours in the last three years alone.
- Cara Black African Cooking Team, an HIV charity based in west London and Elephant & Castle, where the Black African peer group provides a hearty home-cooked meal as part of their relaxed weekly support sessions for those living with HIV in very difficult circumstances.
The Team London Awards recognise Londoners who give up their own time to make the city a better place and to help improve the life of those around them. Team London, the Mayor’s volunteering initiative, offers volunteering opportunities across a huge variety of projects, from providing respite to families with sick children to regenerating community green spaces, and supporting people with mental health problems, to coaching the next generation of athletes.
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “The work volunteers do every day to improve the lives of their fellow Londoners is inspiring. Not only is volunteering good for building leadership and communications skills, it’s a great way to break down barriers and bring people from different backgrounds and parts of London together. It’s very important that we recognise those who go above and beyond their call of duty to make London a better place, and I’ve been really pleased to meet some of the city’s top volunteering stars at the Team London Awards.”
From the outset of his term, the Mayor pledged to make improving social integration in London one of his ‘core’ priorities over the next four years. He has appointed Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement Matthew Ryder to help ensure Londoners from different faiths, ethnicities, backgrounds and social classes are better integrated in a city that is the most diverse in the country, where the population is at record levels and where more than 300 languages are spoken.
Across the capital, Londoners of all ages are now lending a hand in their local communities as a result of signing up to Team London. More than 150,000 adults and nearly 100,000 young people have signed up to volunteer through a range of programmes.
Dame Barbara Windsor, Team London Ambassador, said: “Team London volunteers put an incredible amount of time, energy and care into projects that make our great city an even better place. I love being part of Team London and am delighted to be able to meet so many worthy recipients of this year’s awards.”
The Team London Awards, now in their fifth year, have already recognised the dedication and commitment of over 375 volunteers from across the capital.
Full list of award categories and winners:
Community crowdfunding award
- Twist on Station Rise, Lambeth
Corporate volunteering in the community
- Root7 in Wimbledon (for their volunteering with the Commonside Community Development Trust in Merton)
Innovation in employee volunteering
- Natixis Global Asset Management, City of London (for their volunteering with Providence Row in Tower Hamlets)
Long service awards
- Clive Domm, Hammersmith and Fulham
- Violet Pace, Redbridge
- Kathy Baker, Westminster
- Beverly Stroud, Havering
Mentoring & coaching
- Ashish Patel, Into University, Newham (Under 25 years old)
- Ahmad Goudzari, EASE Work Club, Ealing (Over 25 years old)
- Trailblazers Mentors, across London (Team)
- City & Islington College, Islington (School Award)
My community
- Lucinda Pinto, Brixton People’s Kitchen, Wandsworth (Under 25 years old)
- Compassionate Neighbours, St Joseph’s Hospice, Hackney (Team)
- Sue Chapman, Nightstop, Merton, (Over 25 years old)
- Hackney New School, Hackney (School Award)
Our environment
- 97 Croydon Squadron Air Training Corps, Croydon (Under 25 years old)
- Christine Daniel, Spires, Lambeth (Over 25 years old)
- Mitcham Community Orchard & Gardens, Merton (Team)
- Burnt Ash Primary School, Bromley (School Award)
Spirit of 2012 - school award
- Rokesly Junior School, Haringey
Sports & healthy living
- Olivia Henderson-Downing, Maypole Project, Bromley (Under 25 years old)
- Kristian Bridge, New Choices for Youth, Newham (Over 25 years old)
- Cara Black African Cooking Team, Southwark (Team)
- Granton Primary School, Lambeth (School Award)
Unilever - school award
- St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School, Lambeth
Volunteer centre award
- Emma Martin, Hackney Volunteer Centre
Notes to editors
1. Team London is the Mayor of London’s volunteering initiative. It supports 2,000 charitable organisations, works with over 100 businesses to recognise the importance of volunteering for their staff and the next generation and provides thousands of opportunities for all Londoners to give back to their community through its website and speed volunteering app. Team London runs a wide range of programmes working cross-sector to support young people and London’s communities. London was named European Volunteering Capital 2016 as a result of Team London’s partnership working with the third sector.