The nominees for Westbury’s Person of the Year 2011 competition have been compiled, and now White Horse News readers are being asked to cast their vote on who they think should be crowned the winner.
In our last issue, White Horse News asked readers to nominate their ‘person of the year’ – somebody in the town who deserves recognition for their outstanding actions over the past year or who has had the biggest impact on life in the town.
We have drawn up a shortlist of deserving finalists, who will now go head to head for the title of Westbury’s Person of the Year 2011. The easiest way to vote for your person of the year is online at www.whitehorsenews.co.uk. Alternatively, you can fill out the form on page 11 and drop it into Westbury Heritage Centre on the High Street.
The deadline for voting is Wednesday 25th January. Here are the nominations:
Helen Bolwell
Helen started fundraising for Bath RUH’s Forever Friends Space to Grow campaign for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) a couple of years after her daughter Charlotte died. After raising £3,000 for the unit the fundraising continued with Helen and her husband Greg, taking their barn owl, Duchess, along to fairs and events both near and far to help the donations pour in. Duchess has now been replaced by Angel the owl, who has been just as big a hit.
The Dilton Marsh couple do not keep a tally of the other sums they’ve raised but their efforts have also raised much-needed cash for causes including the Trowbridge cyber cafe, which provides disabled people with help and training on computers; Freewheelers EVS, a charity which provides a free out-of-hours motorcycle service to hospitals; Dorothy House Hospice Care, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Scotty’s Little Soldiers, and Children in Need. Helen also helps out in her local community in any way she can – be it with baking cakes, helping the Brownies, or a local playgroup.
Helen was delighted to be nominated, and explained, “Our daughter died five years ago and that was like being hit by a tonne of bricks. I didn’t do anything for two years because we needed to get over that, then I felt I needed something to get me back out there. Now I can’t stop! I just help wherever I can.”
Eddie Bridges
Eddie has been involved in a number of local charitable groups in the town, often taking on committee roles with a higher level of responsibility. He has been on the committee of the Westbury branch of the Royal British Legion since it reformed in 1981 and is currently the branch’s President. Every year the branch raises thousands by collecting for the Poppy Appeal, while running other fundraising events throughout the year.
Eddie was also among the original committee members for Chernobyl Children’s Life Line, the charity which brings children who have grown up affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, to Westbury for respite holidays and health checks.
Most recently, Eddie has been looking into the deeds for Westbury Hospital, which like many local people he considers to belong to the town, not the NHS – which he says is an important distinction given that the NHS plan to sell the site.
Eddie said, “I don’t think I’ve done anything exceptional – to me these things are not exceptional. I got involved because I wanted to.”
Dot Whitehead
Dot has been managing the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Shop in Maristow Street since it was set up 14 years ago. In this time, the shop has raised over £1.5million for the appeal, and is now more important than ever since the Devizes store closed last year, leaving the Westbury shop as the charity’s only retail outlet.
Prior to the air ambulance shop, Dot also spent around 21 years managing Westbury’s Red Cross shop, bringing her years of volunteering in the town to over 35 years.
Although the shop has been Dot’s main project, she has also volunteered for other projects in the town including a local lunch club and holidays with the blind association.
Dot said it was “lovely” to be nominated, and emphasises that she enjoys the work she does. “I love meeting people; we’ve got some excellent customers in the shop, including regular customers who come in every week, if not twice a week. I enjoy meeting the public, and working with the girls here. We don’t count as bosses, we work as a team.”
