Volunteer Centre Westminster 2012 Awards

Click here to view profile case studies of all the award winners

On Wednesday, 13th June, 2012 at 6:45 p.m. the Volunteer Centre Westminster presented its annual Volunteer Awards in the stately Empire Room of The Landmark London in Marylebone. VCW Trustee, Ryan Pereira, compered the evening’s proceedings and began with a warm welcome to the audience and a word of thanks to the hotel and its staff, the judging panel, ABC Productions and Potential Productions, who were capturing the event on film for posterity.

Mr Pereira outlined the aims of the awards function – to recognize and celebrate the work of individuals and teams in the field of volunteering in the borough of Westminster.

The event was hosted at The Landmark London

Opening remarks by VCW Chief Executive Officer, Gareth Owen, provided an explanation of the VCW’s scope, core functions and its undertaking of providing support to all volunteering activities in Westminster, and that doing good for the community is regarded as a positive by-product of directed self-enhancement.

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Councillor Lee Rowley, Cabinet Member for Community Services, gave a short address, stating that it is impressive the extent to which people give their time to the community through volunteering, and that such action is truly appreciated.

Duncan Goodhew, MBE, the British 1980 Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer held up an Olympic torch to whoops and cheers before delivering the feature address – a heart-warming view of how various people contribute in myriad ways, to deliver success. Amongst the winners was the Volunteer Centre Westminster's very own Gwyneth Williams who delivered resounding observations on volunteering based on her years of experience.

VCW - Serving Community for 25

Overall, there were eight (8) categories of awards with over 120 nominations. As the winners in the various categories were announced, recipients were presented with their award by Duncan Goodhew, MBE and each then had the opportunity to say a few words about the contributions that their organization makes to the Westminster community.

Entertainment was provided by Kevin Fitzsimmons, whose repertoire of 60s Classic American Songbook Sinatra-esque selections, perfectly complemented an evening of worthwhile achievement, which was a resounding success.