Volunteers and neighbours pick up awards
BBCInspriational volunteers and great neighbours have been honoured at the BBC Shropshire Make a Difference Awards.
The event, held at the Anstice in Madeley, celebrated community heroes and their dedication to looking after their areas.
Included in the eight categories were the best fundraiser, young hero and active members of the community.
There was also a special award dedicated to the most supportive animal which went to Rico, a dog rescued from Portugal who helps locate missing dogs.
Jaswant Singh was presented with the Great Neighbour award after more than a decade of helping people who come into her and her husband's village shop in Morda.
Ms Singh helps with bills and fills out forms and said: "I just want to help them. I think I get it from my mother."
She said it was "very rewarding".
Harry Maceachen, who received the Young Hero award, is passionate about promoting organ donation after having three liver transplants.
He said: "It helps having a good connection with the nurses, it's been amazing having my family there with me, especially my little brother who's had to come along at the weekends and spends his weekends in hospital and sometimes the best part of his holidays."
The Green award went to the Shrewsbury Repair Cafe.
It meets on the third Saturday of the month at the United Reformed Church in Shrewsbury and invites people to bring in items which need repairing.
Pete Martin from the cafe said: "People always come first, their objects can be replaced, their objects can be fixed."
Receiving the award, he joked: "This is the first thing we've been handed that we haven't had to repair."
The Animal award went to Rico, a dog rescued from Portugal who helps locate missing dogs.
The 10-year-old works at the Canine School of Trailing in Whitchurch and Rachel Rodgers, who runs it, said she discovered talent when she was trying to build up his confidence around men and children.
Judge Scott Adams said Rico had "such a great story".
Victoria Vespa was presented with the Volunteer award.
She has raised thousands of pounds through the Luna's Legacy Foundation, which she set up after she lost her baby, Luna-Seren, in 2020.
One of her proudest moments, she said, was helping a mother track down her baby's grave after 42 years.
She also said she was proud to be able to talk to people about their loss and grief and "give them an outlet".
The Fundraiser award went to Mark Fielden, who puts on an annual music festival to raise funds in memory of his mother, who died of breast cancer.
Saturday's Chords Crush Cancer has been going since 2016 and he said his mother was a "wonderful, wonderful woman" and he wanted to give something back to the the Lingen Davies charity, which supported her.
The Active award went to the Brightstar Boxing Academy in Shifnal.
Founder Joe Lockley said everyone at the club believed if you can give young people a sense of belonging and get them to believe in themselves "they can achieve incredible things".
Mr Motivator was the judge for this award and he said it was that ethos made the boxing academy stand out.
The Community Group award was given to Men Walking and Talking, a group which organises mental health walks.
It said its aim was to "bring men together in a safe space to end the stigma around men's mental health by supporting each other".
The judge in this category, Jackie Weaver, said: "There are so few opportunities for men to involves themselves in real community and this to me really stood out as an opportunity for men to talk with other men."
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