Month: October 2014

Here in Barrow in Furness we are very lucky to have such a diverse range of musical theatre groups, all of which strive to put on an amazing production each year, with its members working tirelessly to put on  fantastic productions.

As one of the newest groups in the area CAST theatre company work with a tiny budget to put on great productions. Unlike some groups CAST are unable to afford to hire sets or costumes, and have to rely on a huge team effort from its members, committee, creative team and young peoples parents.

CAST are a very inclusive group and accept everyone of any age, ability or background, not only to their group but to the CAST family.

“CAST are a group who make everyone welcome. There is no audition process to gain a place in the group, which allows for even the shyest person blossom on the stage. CAST are thankful for the opportunities they have been given and like to give back to help our local community, by taking part in events including bag packing which assists raise funds for both the group and other charities, singing at one of our members care homes, Tarn House, and performing at KIDSfest 2014.”

Various people benefit from the work CAST Theatre Company do. First and foremost it’s the members, who gain a sense of accomplishment whenever they give 100% to helping create and bring to life each and every production.

CAST also is active in its local community by joining in other fundraising events and community events.

A great nomination for a great group, well done on your nomination.

 

Here’s another great Sports Volunteer nomination to tell you about – Helen Wiggan of the Dragon Tiger Martial Arts Club.

Helen has been running a Karate club specifically for youngsters from Barrow and the surrounding area for around ten years. During this period about ten of the youngsters have achieved blackbelts in Kenpo Karate. Helens club promotes family orientated physical activity and has forged links with other clubs in Newcastle and Carlisle.

By the time of the Love Barrow Awards ceremony the club will have competed in its first ever World Championships. A small team are traveling to Dublin to compete in several events on 25th & 26th of October.

The nomination form is full of praise for Helen – “I believe that without the dedication of Helen the club would not have achieved half of what it has and these young people would not had such experiences.”

The club also raise money for charity and they are a great asset to the Furness area.

Well done Helen on your nomination.

 

Maybe cycling to work wasn’t such a good idea today! Dodging the flying wheelie bins and the odd bungalow passing overhead…

Take care out there everyone – it’s a proper wild and windy one as the remnants of Hurricane Gonzalo land on our Furness shores.

May be better to just stay indoors today, but what to do with yourself? How about nominating someone for a Love Barrow Award? There’s nine categories at the awards this year and we’re accepting nominations in all of them until the 9th November, but the sooner you get them in the sooner we can feature them here on this blog.

Nominating is easy – just follow the link at the top of this page and everything is explained.

So put that kettle on, make a brew, have a think about who to nominate and make some use out of a horrible day!

Take Care

Darren @ Love Barrow Awards

A great sports volunteer nomination in the 2015 Love Barrow Awards – Sharon George.

Sharon works tirelessly most days of the week to support and develop Netball in the Furness area. She is the Umpire and Fixtures secretary of the South Lakeland Netball League along with actively umpiring each monday night.

She is one of the Key members of Lindal Netball club who not only play in the SLNL but are also in the CumbriaPremier league.

Sharon works hard for netball locally whilst also working full time.

The nomination form is full of praise for Sharon – “She is just unflappable. She never stops. Be it organsing and officiating the SLNL on a Monday evening,attending county meetings when needed.”

“Sharon just cracks on and gets things done”

“Shes a blummin legend”

A great sporting volunteer and another example of what makes the Barrow area a great place to live, work and play.

Another fanatstic Group or Project of the Year nomination – Walney Island Community First Responders – if they win that’ll be a challenge for the trophy engravers as it has to be one of the longest nomination names in the 2015 Love Barrow Awards!

This group was founded in 2010 by Chris Fagan and his wife Colleen Fagan.

“Over time, a small group of volunteers from Walney Island use an on call system to attend Catagory 1 calls for The ambulance service. The group are all volunteers who have trained to deal with cardiac arrests, choking, bleeding and many other life threatening conditions. They are called to all Category 1 calls on Walney who attend in attendance with the ambulance providing support and in some cases have attended prior to the ambulance getting there, initialising treatment early.”

The group provides First Response cover to Walney 24/7 365 days a year.

The group is self funding, basic equipment is provided by North West ambulance however, ongoing community fundraising continues to provide equipment needed. Fundraising also provided Walney Island with many public access defibrillators.

The group also provide free training to groups or individuals who want training using these vital life saving devices.

A great team doing great work on Walney Island – well done on your nomination!

BREAKING NEWS – congratulations on making it to the final three in this category, see you on the red carpet at the Forum in March!

The latest nomination in the Group or Project of the Year category for the 2015 Love Barrow Awards is…

ABBOTSVALE RESPITE CARE.

(L-R Karen Dodding, Jean Waiting and Alf Hadley)

Jean Waiting and Karen Dodding helped set up the Abbotsvale respite care scheme as part of the Abbostvale Communtiy Association activities along side Cheeky Monkeys childcare who offer the space for the child care.

The respite care the association provides depends greatly on fundraising and from donations from local companies.

The anonymous nomination form mentions that –

“they have understood that there are a lot of children and families who are affected in the local community if that being from poverty or disabilities within the families. Jean and Karen offer childcare to families for a minimum of 6weeks 1 to 2 sessions a week.

Referrals come from the nursery themselves or from the local health visitors, they have had a lot of referrals in the year this charity has been running and they have helped lots of families in the time they need it.”

The association offers respite to local children in the Newbarns and Risedale area.  The respite care scheme allows parents to have a place for the children to go for a few hours a week and be safe and secure to allow the parents to do things they wouldn’t usually be able to do. They have only been running respite care for a year and they have helped a lot of families in the local area.

Well done to the association on the nomiantion- another great scheme that highlights the great work being undertaken in Barrow.

Art Gene are a Barrow based group of inter/national visual artists who work collaboratively with communities to raise awareness of the social, natural and built environment.

Art Gene connect people with visual art in ways that are open and inclusive. They reach out beyond their studios and gallery in the Nan Tait centre on Abbey Road, to involve people of all ages, from all across Barrow in unusual visual art experiences.

From walks and talks to exhibitions in unusual spaces, to road shows going out into communities, Art Gene reaches people who hardly ever would visit a gallery.

“no other organisation in Cumbria that delivers Art Gene’s quality of work, thatis led by artists and co-created with communities.”

 Jakub Jezierski, a young writer for Culture on Shoestring magazine who visited Art Gene from Lancaster, said: “Working with people on projects is the essence of Art Gene…collaboration adds value to their work and to the lives of participants. By involving the community and creating a connection to them they create a lasting effect that won’t cease to exist when the project comes to an end.”

Art Gene was founded and is led by two practicing artists with an international reputation –

Maddi Nicholson

and Stuart Bastik.

“They are hard-working, sincere, open, sharing, and totally committed to Barrow and its people.”

Art Gene has been working with the Barrow community for the past 12 years, building up strong links with community groups, schools, day centres, clubs and societies. They have involved individuals and families from various Barrow neighbourhoods, including Ormsgill, Hindpool, Barrow Island and Central and North and South Walney as well as the wider Barrow Borough communities.

A great group committed to the local community – well done on your nomination!

Hi Everyone,

It’s Friday again?

Where do the weeks go? We’ll be rolling out the red carpet at the Forum before you know it for the 2015 Love Barrow Awards. Nominations are still coming in and you’ve got until the 9th November to get your submissions in, it’s really easy, just click that NOMINATIONS link at the top of this page for instructions – you can complete everything online form this website and it’s really easy.

We’ll start the day with news of our latest Carer of the Year nomination – Kath Woodend.

When you think of “Carer”, you immediately think of the frail, ill, disabled and other needy people that are cared for on a daily basis by volunteers throughout our community. This one’s a little bit different -Kath is an animal lover and her caring work is all dedicated to our four legged friends.

For over 20 years Kath has fostered and cared for many cats and kittens  – She at one point had every room in the house including the bathroom occupied by either pregnant cats or mum and kittens, she has hand reared kittens single handed with no help and still goes round with a smile on her face, everyone knows her as the “kitten lady”.

The nomination form is full of praise for Kath and her work –

“Kath is the most loving and gentle woman I have ever met, she gives her love and attention to all animals not just the cats and kittens she cares for, she will help anyone in need and does it with a smile on her face at all times despite her age of 74 and her health problems”

Congratulations Kath on your nomination.