11th Annual Achievement Awards

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11th Annual Achievement Awards

Hackney Voluntary Action celebrated its 11th annual achievement awards on the 5th of June 2008. This awards ceremony sets out to celebrate the outstanding contribution and commitment of volunteers and of community organisations in Hackney. Approximately 100 guests from various organisations around Hackney joined us on the night. Organisations in attendance included HILT (Hackney Independent Living Team), Halkevi, In Shape, Envision and the Carol Starker Dance foundation.

Our guest speaker was Cllr Ian Rathbone who gave the opening speech about volunteering and citizenship. He himself was born in Hackney, and has been a Leabridge ward councillor since 2002.

Other guest presenters included James Cook MBE-ex professional boxer turned youth worker extraordinaire, and Valley Fontaine- BBC London Reporter for the Boroughs of Hackney and Haringey.

James Cook presented the Young Volunteer Award and the Young Leader Award, both of which recognises volunteers aged between 13 and 19. The winners were Deimante Karpaviciute from Envision and Marlon Thomas from Shakespeare Walk Adventure Playground.

Valley Fontaine presented the Volunteer Mentor Award to Ana Marie Alburqueque Mogollon from HILT for special leadership and support of other volunteers, and presented the Volunteer of the Moment Award to Noelia Rufete from In Shape. Valley also presented the Milestone Award to Nafiz Bostanci from Halkevi.

Another honourable guest was Lola Akindoyin, from Team Hackney, who presented the Good Practice Organisation Award to Hackney City Farm; the award recognises organisations whose Volunteer Programme demonstrates excellence in volunteer management and a high quality of volunteer training, supervision and support. She also presented the Volunteer Trustee Award to Sara Milburn from Shakespeare Walk Adventure Playground, and the Volunteer of the Year Award. The nominations for this category were all amazingly dedicated people but ultimately the winner was Monica Harding, form the Community Resource Team.

A massive Thank You goes out again to our judging panel members: Andy Dixon, Nick Oliver, Natalie Roast, Bev Rolfe, Eric Smart and Tracy Williams. We would also like to thank all the volunteers and staff at HVA and most importantly to all the volunteers throughout the Hackney borough.