The UK’s leading church insurer, Ecclesiastical, has today named the six winners of its ‘Little Deeds, Big Difference’ competition, which celebrates and recognises the work of church volunteers across the UK.
The six winning entries are:
- Sharon Blair, Holy Trinity Church, Combe Down, Somerset
- Freda Gibbons, St. Mary and St. John’s Church, Lamyatt, Somerset
- Mary Hughes, St. Michael and All Angels Church, Bishop’s Cleeve, Cheltenham
- Betty Keywood, St. Stephen’s Church, Tonbridge, Kent
- ‘The Friday Men’, Christ Church, Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire
- Roger Townsin, All Saints Church, Kettlestone, Fakenham, Norfolk
Each of the six winners will receive a prize of £2,000 for their church with one lucky winner taking home the £10,000 grand prize.
Michael Angell, Church Operations Director and one of the judges, commented: “Given the quality and number of nominations we received, the judging process was extremely difficult. Every single entry was worthy of recognition and deserving of a prize, but our six winners really stood out and have made an outstanding contribution to their local communities.
“I would like to congratulate the six winners and everybody who has been nominated. It was incredibly heart-warming to receive so many nominations for volunteers who have played such a crucial role in the running of their churches. They have led volunteering efforts with the wider community and we look forward to revealing the grand prize winner in November.”
Ecclesiastical received more than 300 nominations from churches across the country and the winner of the £10,000 grand prize will be revealed at a special winner’s lunch on 1 November 2018.
Michael added: “The ‘Little Deeds, Big Difference’ competition really has revealed the thousands of little deeds carried out by church volunteers every day that make a big difference to so many, in all sorts of communities.
“Churches play an important role in local communities and church volunteers support a wide variety of activities and people every single day. This support is becoming increasingly important, particularly where other community resources are closing or have had to reduce the services on offer.
“We hope that the competition has helped raise the profile of the valuable work that church volunteers undertake in their communities and that the prize money will go some way to helping support the many and varied activities they run.”
To find out more about this year’s competition, visit: www.ecclesiastical.com/churchcomp.
**Ends***