"Fantastic" community champions from across Redbridge have been praised for their efforts to improve the borough.
Around 30 individuals, groups, organisations and youngsters were invited to the Mayor's Community Awards 2023 at Redbridge Town Hall on March 29.
Glass trophies and certificates were given out by Redbridge mayor Cllr Thavathuray Jeyaranjan while host Weininger Irwin - who won the first series of ITV show Gladiators - described each of the recipients' achievements.
He described the winners as "absolutely amazing" and "fantastic" members of the community.
Winners included Lydia Fraser-Ward, with her Mums for Lungs campaign which advocates for better air quality; Cecilia Richu, for her Bin A Knife, Save A Life initiative; and Sue's House, a charity providing support to patients and families of patients who have been affected by cancer.
Cecilia, who works to install bleed cabinets around the borough for victims of knife crime, said: "This is really not for me - it's for the community, especially the landlords who give permission for the cabinets to be installed on their walls because without the walls there's no cabinets."
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April Mehmet, who won an award for the second year in a row for her Walk It Out women's empowerment initiative, said she was "inspired to continue doing what I'm doing".
Also presented were New Year's Honours that were awarded to Redbridge heroes earlier this year.
The recipients were Isaac Harvey MBE, Amarjit Singh Soora BEM, Geraldine Stewart Maclaine MBE and Ziana Ayesha Butt BEM.
Ziana, who was honoured with a British Empire Medal for her work encouraging diversity in sport, said: "It feels amazing but all of the work that I've done - that's never been the goal.
"For me, it's just another opportunity to continue doing what I love which is volunteering and changing the landscape and inspiring the next generation of south Asian youngsters to take up sport."
The evening also saw the winners of the Ilford Recorder/Redbridge Rotary Young Citizen Awards 2023 announced.
Running since 2008, the joint initiative sees inspirational young people nominated in the newspaper, with an overall winner and runner up then picked from the group.
This year, the runner up was teenager Kirushan Suthakaran and the winner was six-year-old Alfie Thorn-Brown.
Alfie, from South Woodford, raised more than £1,000 by doing a sponsored bike ride just two weeks after learning how to cycle.
The cash went towards buying a new sensory board for dementia patients at Chadwell House care home in Romford, where his great-grandmother was a resident.
Kirushan was nominated after leading a project to provide care packages to Ukrainian refugees arriving in east London.
He said: "It was really nice to be able to do something for them."
Deivan and Rylan Virdee, both 10, were nominated after raising money for charity from the proceeds of their clothing business, Rocketsonic.
The twins said they felt "good" that they "donated to Unicef because it's a good charity".
Recorder reporter Tara Mewawalla presented the awards alongside Rotary president Eve Conway.
Alfie and Kirushan will now be put forward for the Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland Young Citizen Awards.
Council leader Jas Athwal said: "I think Redbridge is really proud to be hosting this again and certainly we look forward to the successes of the youngsters who came up first because they are the future.
"They will certainly make sure that we leave this fantastic borough in the same - if not a better place - than we found it.
"There are some amazing people... and I think it's the service that people give to this wonderful borough that makes it so great - really proud to be here."
Mayor's Community Award winners:
- April Mehmet (Walk It Out)
- Sue's House
- Malakai Boxing
- Danny O'Brien
- Cecilia Richu
- Nicolas Kee Mew
- South Woodford Society
- Harsha Popat
- Empowering Parents Together
- South Park Users Group
- Jeanette and Bernard Briggs
- Diana Smith
- Lydia Fraser-Ward (Mums for Lungs)
- Taz Waqas
- Panna Simon
- Neelam Pahl
Ilford Recorder/Redbridge Rotary Club Young Citizen Award 2023 nominees:
- Alfie Thorn-Brown (winner)
- Kirushan Suthakaran (runner-up)
- Zoraiz Saeed
- Danyaal Ali
- Aisha Qayyum
- Simran-Katy Kaur Rao
- Deivan Virdee and Rylan Virdee
New Year's Honours, presented by council leader Jas Athwal:
- Isaac Harvey MBE
- Amarjit Singh Soora BEM
- Geraldine Stewart Maclaine MBE
- Ziana Ayesha Butt BEM
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