Mayor's Community Award winners 2021

The community spirit that has arisen throughout Covid-19 has been astonishing and it felt important to recognise this. This year, the awards were split between Community Awards and Covid Special awards with 34 winners.

Margaret Thompson said:

“Community has become more important than ever before and it was an honour to present these awards to such deserving residents. The Mayor’s Community Awards really highlights  and acknowledges the achievements of these individuals and I would like to share my thanks and gratitude with each and every one of the award winners”. 

The winners of the Mayor's Community Awards 2021 are:

Ken Cowdery
Ken is a true selfless, generous & community minded resident who has spent years working with others within the Borough’s War Memorial Association educating the community and helping keep important memories alive. 

Ann Cornick
Ann Cornick is an inspiration to many people and an example of the very best of what Kingston can be, who has been serving the Kingston Community through her work at All Saints Church (Kingston) for over four decades.

Ben McLean
Ben is a true community champion and was recognised for his caring, kind, supportive and committed work to not just Anstee Bridge, an alternative education provision for year 11 students aged 15-16 in local Kingston schools, but also to the local community. 

Christian McBride
Christian is a great person who always puts other people first and has spent over 15 years as Acting CEO of Genuine Solutions, where he ensures a core focus on community support has been built into the company values and culture.  As a result, there is an annual charity programme in which time and resources are dedicated to support the local community in raising funds and awareness for a variety of causes.

Gillie Taylor
Gillie is a generous and compassionate resident who has continually supported Voices of Hope (with the Sisterhood Sanctuary and Kingston Food Hub) and Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness.

Anna Edwards
Anna was awarded a Young Person award for her voluntary work at Voices of Hope. She has a warm and encouraging nature and has been an essential part of the team.

Julian Meers
Julian is a hard working and community focused resident who founded the Queen’s Promenade Friends, a community project with the goal of turning the unloved old caretaker’s compound into a beautiful Pocket Park.

Alison Fure
Alison is passionate about protecting our borough’s biodiversity and has worked on a wide range of projects while finding time to enthuse local people about Kingston’s nature.

Frances Peebles
Frances is a true community champion who selflessly volunteers with Refugee Action Kingston and Refugees at Home to provide accommodation in her home for the most vulnerable people.

Raphael Maurin & Daniel Almeida
Raphael and Daniel are both kind, enthusiastic, very capable and talented young men who were awarded a joint Young Person award for their continuous support at St Joseph’s Catholic Church (New Malden).

Peter Nam
Peter is a friendly community member and has been working with Kingston Chinese Association to help with a range of initiatives for a number of years; including being the vice Chairman since 2013.  He has also been a volunteer at the Chinese School for the last 30 years.

The winners of the Covid Special Mayor's Community Awards 2021 are:

Dr Kate Kenyon
Dr Kate Kenyon is a selfless and caring individual who founded Sewing4Kingston in April 2020, followed by RBKares in November which has provided essential support to many Kingston residents throughout the pandemic.

Liz Grimwood & the Kingston Young Carers’ Team
The team at Young Carers’ Project, of which Liz Grimwood is a key part, continually go above and beyond to help support Young Carers across Kingston Borough, who have been especially affected by the pandemic. 

Denise Corbett, Leeanne O’Connor & Sue Littleboy
Denise, Leeanne and Sue have ensured that the Surbiton Royal British Legion Youth Marching Band has funds available to continue offering their service to the young people of the borough by raising £7000 through the making and selling of mask and other items over the last year.

Giuseppe Prestigiacomo
Giuseppe runs the Cardinal Pub & Peppe’s Restaurant and has stepped up throughout the pandemic to support the community by providing free meals to NHS staff and supporting local families and children with lunch boxes.

Tanya van Dalen
Tanya has been an essential part of the Growbaby team over Covid-19 and has ensured that all families in need of support are able to access the service Growbaby provides.  Despite the challenge of social distancing, she also helped organise the annual Growbaby Christmas present distribution for families in need.

Sewing4Kingston
Sewing4Kingston is a fantastic community network that has produced more than 40,000 individual items (including face-covering, scrubs and bags) for key workers throughout the pandemic, this huge team of volunteers have all worked tirelessly and are an inspiration to Kingston. 

Andrew White 
Andrew is a peer mentor volunteer with SPEAR, a charity assisting those experiencing homelessness in South West London, he is always willing to help out with anything and is a real asset to the team.

The Kingston upon Thames Rotary Club
The Rotary Club is an outstanding team who have focused these past 12 months on Kingston projects, researched needy causes and identified emergency needs and devised Covid-safe fundraising opportunities to support a number of smaller local organisations.

Lynn Lock
Lynn is a true community champion and has been recognised for her voluntary work for the betterment of the local community in many different ways (in Chessington/South of the Borough).

CREst (Piper Hall) Food Bank
The Piper Hall Food Bank volunteers are a kind, friendly and welcoming team who source, stock and provide fresh food for anyone who needs it and have been an essential service to many throughout the pandemic.

Tony Goshawk
Tony runs ‘Tony’s Fruit Stall’ and has offered his service and time in many ways (including supporting the Dons Local Action Group, Voices of Hope, RBKares and Piper Hall Foodbank), his enthusiasm, energy, and love of Kingston has really shone through during the pandemic and helped many Kingston residents.

Olly Stredwick
Olly is a selfless individual who has given his time and expertise to Kingston LGBT Forum to transform all of the charity’s services to online offerings, giving a lifeline to hundreds of LGBT+ people in Kingston.

Lisa Blackman and The Outreach Service
Lisa and her team normally work at Alfriston Day Centre supporting older and vulnerable residents but due to Covid-19 they had to work in a different way. They continued to support those known to the service and also new referrals with a hot meal delivery service, which quickly expanded to include prescription collection and delivery, laundry, chiropody and a telephone support service. 

Kingsgate Church
Kingsgate Church not only had to adapt their services for members to be online, they offered their building to be used as a central resource, free of charge, enabling the Kingston Food HUB to start (cooking and delivering 30,000 meals to date). Continued partnership has also seen the start of the Brite Box Project and The Good Food Co-op). The generosity and support they have shown is invaluable and the team are a reflection of Kingston’s community spirit.

The Sunray Community
Sunray Community has come together to not only help each other, but also Kingston residents and services. They have undertaken a range of volunteering throughout the pandemic that has made a real difference to the local community.

Kingston Stronger Together Community Response Hub Volunteers
The wonderful volunteers at the Kingston Stronger Together Community Response Hub have given up their time to support some of the most vulnerable residents in Kingston (with two categories of volunteers; the befriending and emotional support volunteers and the food, pharmacy and essential deliveries volunteers). Their time and energy to support the Covid-19 response effort has been invaluable.

(BRaG members) plus other residents
BRaG is a residents’ association which has played an amazing role in bringing people in North Kingston together to support their community during the pandemic. The team has made a real impact on the Covid-19 response effort and shone a light on the importance of community during a time of crisis. 

Michelle Kitch
Michelle is a much valued and hardworking member of staff at Kingston Mencap, who seamlessly moved activities online and created additional activities ensuring all members were supported and engaged throughout this very difficult period.

Neil Long
Neil is a bubbly and friendly individual who has worked hard to put a smile on Kingston residents' faces by hosting virtual parties, he has also given up his time to volunteer and fundraise and is a true community champion.

Gill Wood
Gill Wood has worked with Kingston Mencap for many years and continues to volunteer her time to help those in need, she has been an invaluable member of the team throughout the pandemic and is always there when needed.  Her enthusiasm to improve the lives of people in Kingston with a learning disability has always been immense but she really has made a huge difference during the last year.

Voices of Hope
Voices of Hope expanded its activities to coordinate a large team of people who volunteered their time and expertise to prepare, cook and deliver meals plus sourced, wrapped and delivered thousands of Christmas presents for local families. Every single volunteer involved has made a significant difference to the lives of the residents of Kingston through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Brian Gaff
Brian has worked hard to keep visually impaired people in touch with local news and vital information from the Council, by adapting the Kingston Talking Newspaper during the pandemic, his commitment to ensure that the local blind community are not left out as we make more of life screen-based is inspiring and a lifeline for many.