Year of the Volunteer
Community Service Volunteer Awards 2005
Presentation Ceremony at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London
Sunday 22nd January 2006
by Stella Bernardi
I was not expecting to be able attend this prestigious ceremony although I had nominated Jo Fisher, the Founder and Co-ordinator of the Fibromyalgia Support Group for Surrey and Sussex. She had already been awarded a bronze medal as the winner of the regional award for the south east of England. This had been presented to her at Chichester on 6th October. Now she was attending the National Awards. I am awaiting a hip replacement operation and didn’t think I would be able to do the walking involved in travelling by public transport, but at the last minute Norman Lawrence offered to take us by car – so I went!
The Year of the Volunteer was instigated by the Home Office and supported by various benefactors. The intention was to encourage people to volunteer for voluntary work and the Awards made to recognise outstanding individuals who had benefited their communities by their unstinting service.
There were five categories:
Commitment: Volunteers who have shown true dedication, perhaps carrying out essential but not necessarily inspiring work with little thanks or obvious reward.
Impact: Volunteers whose work has transformed lives, environments or communities.
Innovation: Volunteers who have come up with an exciting and original way to address a need in their community.
Inspiration: Volunteers who have inspired others, perhaps overcoming personal obstacles to become role models in their community, perhaps organising one-off but hugely inspiring volunteering activities.
Partnership: Volunteers who have successfully built partnerships across community, sector, race, culture and faith groups and used these partnerships to achieve great things.
England was divided into nine regions and there was one regional winner in each category, making 45 finalists.
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The afternoon began with a champagne reception where we were able to chat with other candidates.
 
Speeches were made by Lord Levy the CSV President, Barry Townsley CBE, Chairman of the YV05 Awards Panel and the Director of ExxonMobil. As we entered the theatre auditorium we were entertained by the Ebony Steel Band – Millennium Volunteers. The theatre was packed with finalists and their supporters. The occasion was compered by Jon Snow, Broadcaster.
During the proceedings six ‘Dolls’ entertained us with a performance of ‘A Bushel and a Peck’ from the musical Guys and Dolls; a dance duo from the Rambert Dance Company gave a performance to represent people helping one another entitled Kiss Your Eyes. A video presentation provided a message from Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer as well as lists of the finalists in each category and film clips about three from each.
Jo had been the winner of the Inspiration category for South East England. Unfortunately she did not win the national award but it was a great achievement that she qualified for the finals and a great privilege for me, Norman and his wife Christine to have accompanied her.
The winner of the Inspiration category was a blind man, David Godly from the South West who helps other blind people come to terms with their disability. He combines this with his hobby of computers and IT, teaching the visually impaired to use technical equipment, such as specially made PCs, large keyed telephones, talking microwaves and speaking watches. A well deserved award. All the finalists had done wonderful work and each was worthy of the national awards. The judges must have had a hard time deciding which to choose as National Champions.
The awards were presented by various celebrities including David Blunkett MP.
 
Awards were also made to representatives from Scotland (received by Dawn Steel, above ) Wales and Northern Ireland in recognition of the volunteers working there.
The Event sponsor was ExxonMobil, the Inspiration Award Sponsor was the National Lottery. Every attendee was given a ‘Goody Bag’ containing recycled pens and pencils from Barclays Bank, a bar of chocolate from Cadbury Trebor Bassett , sweets and notepads from ExxonMobil and a bottle of water from Love One.
It was a wonderful event and I was so pleased to have been able to attend. We are proud of Jo, she has done so much for the Fibromyalgia community by Making a Difference which is what volunteering is all about. She’s OUR Champion.
 
After the event outside the Theatre Royal
Jo, and some of the group appeared on Meridian News on Saturday 21st in a special item recorded on 12th Jan in Jo’s home. This gave the group a high profile and got our message across to the wider public. This, and the recent press coverage, is all encouraging for the Group.
Jo is hoping to attend an important international conference about Fibromyalgia in America in March. This will entail considerable expense so a fundraising campaign to raise the necessary funds is now afoot. The more donations, sponsorship or money raising events that can be realised, the better it will be for Jo. If you can help in any way please contact Jo – 01403 255450 or e-mail her fibrojoatsyandsx@hotmail.com We thank you in anticipation of your support.
 
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