Unsung heroes, community stalwarts and charitable organisations from across Suffolk were honoured at an annual awards ceremony.
The High Sheriff Awards were held at The Hoffman Building in Snape Maltings last Thursday – with eight winners honoured overall across seven categories and many more highly commended.
And the winner of the under-25 Young Volunteer of the Year Award was Hannah Harvey, from Lowestoft, who volunteers at the DreamworX Youth Project in the town.
In partnership with Suffolk Community Foundation, The High Sheriff, William Kendall held this year's awards, which celebrated and recognised some of the county's unsung heroes
Each category winner received a trophy and a certificate and cheque of up to £1,000 was given to the community group or charity involved in each category.
The event was hosted by BBC Radio Suffolk presenter Lesley Dolphin and Suffolk Community Foundation's development director Tim Holder. Mr Holder said: 'There was a lot of laughter and tears, but most importantly 400 Suffolk people came together to celebrate and say thank you.'
With Hannah Harvey winning the under 25 Young Volunteer of the Year award for her voluntary work with DreamworX Youth Project, she has headed up many projects. Highly commended were Mary Whittingdale and Millie Eddy who both volunteer for YOPEY– The Young People of the Year Befriending Scheme and Jonathan Sharp who is part of the St John Ambulance adult unit.
This year's Youth Organisation of the Year winner was South Street Kids Radio, a free weekly project, running from South Street Radios in the Westgate Ward of Ipswich, and Highly commended runners up were Access Community Trust who working with young people to address disadvantaged as early as possible.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was this year won by Grenville Clarke who has given a lifetime to volunteering, to his love of birds and the environment. David Overton, Sally Fogden and Pamela Bishop were highly commended.
The Suffolk Corporate Community Partnership Award was won by East of England Co-op for their support of the Ipswich Dementia Action Alliance. The East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Star were highly commended.
The Volunteer of the Year category had joint winners – Joan Norman, who has been involved in Scouting for over 40 years, and Liz Rigby, who has been volunteering for Home Start for 15 years.
Highly commended as runners up were Lesley Ashford-Smit and Eric Sewell.
The 2017 Community Group or Organisation of the Year was won by REACH Community Projects. Highly commended were Fresh Start, Suffolk Artlink and Lighthouse Women's Aid.
The High Sheriff's Special Award for the Environment was presented to Green Light Trust.
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