Wirral Awards honour residents for outstanding community service

Wirral Council has honoured 10 local volunteers and the crew at RNLI New Brighton with a prestigious Wirral Award.

The Wirral Award is given for an outstanding achievement over the previous 12 months, or for distinguished service to the community over a period of 20 years or more.

The Mayor of Wirral, Councillor Jerry Williams, thanked this year’s recipients at a special reception in Birkenhead town hall yesterday evening (Tuesday 5 March), where he presented the Wirral Award to: 

• Posthumously awarded to Dave Barden, who sadly lost his life in the Moroccan earthquake in September last year, while on a leg of a round-the-world trip to raise funds for the Red Cross. As well as his cycling achievements, Dave was involved in other voluntary work, including with the Secret Gardens of Oxton and was Membership Secretary for the Oxton Society.
   
• Jack Blakemore for his longstanding services as a volunteer director and Chairperson of Wirral Credit Union for over 30 years. Jack has also helped to raise more than £100,000 for local charities on behalf of Claremount Road Methodist Church. In addition, he has been involved in local and national refereeing more than 60 years.
   
• Mike Curtis for his work with a wide range of community and heritage groups in Wirral, including Greasby Library, Wirral Footpaths and Open Spaces Preservation Society, and as Wirral’s representative on the committee of the Cheshire Local History Association.
   
• Alan Dollery for his work as Chair of Prenton Tenants Association since its formation in 1998. He has also helped to raise thousands of pounds for charities and run a community foodbank which has supported around local 60 families. Alan has also led Prenton in Bloom, supported litter picks, and arranged for a bench to be donated at the Prenton Memorial.
   
• Paul Dufton for providing a distinguished voluntary and campaigning service to the borough for more than 25 years, helping so many local people with a disability to lead a full and independent life. 
   
• John Hilton for providing a vital link between the Peruvian Embassy and Wirral Council for around 15 years, helping to build and maintain a strong working relationship with the Embassy, which has done so much to support historical and cultural links and added great value to the understanding of the history and culture of our area.
   
• Georgina Jacobs for helping bereaved parents find the final resting place of their born-asleep babies, resulting in the Council providing a plot in Landican Cemetery to commemorate them.  
   
• Chris Morris for her long-standing voluntary work as Secretary of Wirral History and Heritage Association, for her contribution to Birkenhead History Society, and as a volunteer with the Friends of Flaybrick. 
   
• Rose Mullarkey for more than 50 years for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, where she has supported thousands of local individuals and families who are in need. Often working in partnership with other organisations – including Wirral Council – Rose has provided countless home visits, telephone contacts, made deliveries and co-ordinated volunteers.  
   
• New Brighton Lifeboat Crew for their continued traditions of the RNLI saving 26 lives over the last 4 years and 364 call outs and making our seaways and beaches safe.  
   
• Bill Price for establishing Glenavon Junior Football Club in 1992 and contributing hours of service every week since. Bill has grown its membership to an incredible 650 members and his efforts have enabled thousands of children and adults from all backgrounds to play the game they love and have done so much to improve the mental and physical health of countless residents. 
   

The Mayor of Wirral, Councillor Jerry Williams, said: