About the event
Last week we celebrated the work of our volunteers at our Southway Volunteers Celebration Event, where we recognised and thanked our volunteers and shared news about community projects funded through our Beautiful South Fund. Chef Exose, who volunteered at Southway as a young person from Chorlton, also shared his experiences volunteering. Attendees enjoyed dinner and we heard from various staff and volunteers about their work. Special recognitions were awarded to the following volunteers below.
Award Winners
Bernie Ryan
The first award goes to a Bernie Ryan, who is part of a great team at one of our Quids In clubs. We’ve singled her out this year because of the other volunteering she has done in the community.
Bernie has been committed to Quids In since the club was established in 2015. Her commitment and enthusiasm never falter. She is passionate about helping others and enjoys all she does within the community.
Bernie also provides craft activities for the community and has held several themed events. Bernie spends hours dressing the shop window for all occasions and receives lots of comments of appreciation from passers-by. The latest activity was a Halloween Event where local people made witches hats and bats, and all things ghoulish! All attendees enjoyed a lovely buffet. It was a great success funded from the Beautiful South Fund.
June Hardy
June Hardy is a Quids In star! She worked through much of the pandemic and helped to ensure we could carry on running during a difficult time. June does a great job of serving members and taking payments as well as helping to set up for club each week and clearing up afterwards.
June knows what each of the members likes and is always looking to make sure we can cater for this as well as having time for a chat and kind word with them each week.
Whenever there are quieter moments, June will always find little jobs to do to help the Brookfield Quids In Club run smoothly. June, Brookfield would be lost without you. Thank you for everything.
Jonny Butcher
Johnny provides so much support to the centre and the Burnage community. He is perhaps best known for being such a delightful character to have around, with an infectious personality that adds to the homely, relaxed environment we work so hard to create.
Jonny will help out whenever asked, assisting with Quids In deliveries and setting the rooms up for service delivery. He shops for different food projects like Let’s Cook Together and generally looks out for when people may need a hand with things like carrying bags to cars.
Jonny is always a great advocate for Westcroft services when we are welcoming work partners to the centre for the first time. We all love Jonny, and so does Burnage community. We are lucky to have him in the team.
Leanne Thomason
Leanne Thomason has been a Quids In volunteer for almost four years and has been key, along with other volunteers, to helping improve the service to members and making the club a more sociable and supportive space. She has continued to increase the amount of responsibility she takes on and is now lead volunteer.
Leanne is an expert in all things Burnage East Quids In, but what really makes Leanne special is the support she gives to others in her community, including Quids In members. She always takes time to listen, and if appropriate, advise. She is appreciated for her compassion and sense of humour.
As well as her main Burnage East responsibilities, she has helped regularly at Old Moat, and does extra tasks like running prize draws for ad hoc items at Burnage East. Leanne also attends the centre for us if we need work done outside of our usual hours. If she thinks things are not working as they should she will always raise it and come up with alternative suggestions.
Many thanks for everything Leanne, it really wouldn’t be the same without you!
Maggie Walker
Maggie Walker has been part of many groups including her local tenant’s association. She's attended lots of meetings and events and always contributed, advised and supported others.
Maggie has always been caring, helpful and passionate about tenants getting the best offer possible. She has encouraged other tenants to come forward to volunteer and get involved at Southway and offered to let new volunteers shadow her.
Maggie, thank you for everything. Your commitment is amazing and so much appreciated.
Jake Whitehouse
Jake Whitehouse appeared just at the right time! Jake made the offer to volunteer at Southway when the first lockdown was announced, and he was amazing. He volunteered with Quids In almost every day of the week, every week of lockdown. We honestly don’t know what we would have done without him. Jake's commitment was amazing and very much appreciated.
Jake eventually went on to become a member of Southway Quids In staff filling a part-time temporary role. Jake has now left Southway after successfully pursuing full time employment. Jake will always be remembered and appreciated for the massive role he took on during the lockdown and the support he provided. Thank you.
A big thankyou to the work of all our volunteers and all who came along to the event. Award winners received a £20 gift voucher for a shop of their choice and all attendees received a giftbag to thank them for their hard work.
Interested in becoming a volunteer?
There are many opportunities to get involved with volunteering and on our various panels. As part of our event, we discussed the work of each group and thanked our volunteers for each. Read more by clicking on each tab below.
We welcome volunteer applications for all the groups above, and are particularly looking for tenant scrutiny panel members, board and committee, and our Beautiful South Fund Decision Making Panel.
If you would like to discuss volunteering, contact Maureen Ward. If you would like to discuss becoming a panel member, contact Matthew Maouati.