TODAY we start the countdown to the Examiner Community Awards with the Friend Of The Year category.
Each day for the next two weeks we will reveal those shortlisted to the final three in each of the categories. The winner will be revealed at the glittering awards ceremony at the Galpharm Stadium on Monday June 6.
AFTER receiving the kidney transplant that saved his life, Tony Duxbury made it his mission to help others.
Over a decade later the Mirfield man is still working tirelessly to make life a little bit brighter for hundreds of other patients like him.
He has been volunteering for Leeds General Infirmary Kidney Patients’ Association for more than 10 years.
During that time he has dedicated countless hours to fundraising and putting a smile on the faces of patients.
He raises funds to help improve the quality of dialysis units to help more than 2,000 patients.
He also organises trips for the group’s 300 patient members and their families and even finds the time to produce a quarterly newsletter in his role as membership secretary.
Tony decided to help others facing his situation after undergoing a kidney transplant operation in 1999.
Last year, dedicated Tony won Yorkshire Bank’s Spirit of the Community Award and he was delighted to hear that he has been nominated in the Examiner Community Awards.
“It’s a bit of a shock, but it’s very nice to be nominated,’’ he said.
“But it’s not just me doing this work – there are 10 volunteers on the Kidney Patients’ Association committee.
“When a patient has dialysis, it’s a traumatic experience, but nobody knows what it’s like until they go through it themselves.
“I know how much of an impact it has on their quality of life, so if I can help them in some way I will.”
Tony is currently organising a summer trip for patients to Llangollen in Wales.
The money he helps raise has funded items like televisions for dialysis wards, hospital equipment and Christmas presents for patients.
THEY are a familiar and reassuring presence for the many revellers enjoying nights out in the town centre.
Dressed in their high visibility jackets, Huddersfield Street Angels walk the streets, casting a protective eye over drinkers and offering help to those who are disorientated or have become separated from friends.
This group of Christian volunteers have been helping keep those enjoying nightlife in the town safe since 2007.
It is their dedication to the project that has seen the team nominated in the Friend of the Year category.
Founder member Dianne Hughes said: "We’re thrilled to bits. It’s wonderful to be recognised for what we do and gives us a real boost to carry on.
"I think what we do is very important and the police have said that because of groups like us the crime rate on the streets has dropped.
"The young people are out to have a good time, but for those who need help we’re there for them and they seem very grateful that we are."
The angels walk the streets on Wednesday and Saturday nights, talking to clubbers as well as keeping in contact with door staff and police.
They are trained in first aid and can help members of the public who have drunk too much or suffered minor injuries.
The volunteers hand out hot drinks and bottled water and even give flip flops to female drinkers with sore feet after hours of dancing in high heels.
Since being formed as part of Kirklees Safer Stronger Communities Partnership, the group has helped reduce violent crime in the area by 40%.
They are going from strength to strength with a recent recruitment drive boosting the number of volunteers to around 32.
THERE is surely nothing more important in life than having a loving home.
Brenda Whitworth has provided this for children who cannot be cared for by their own families.
She has welcomed more than 100 children from Kirklees and beyond into her home since becoming a foster carer.
She’d had some experience as a childminder and, after having her own family, Brenda decided to give help to other children.
She and her husband, Ian, did their research by speaking to other people who were foster carers and in 1985 started welcoming children through their door.
Ian sadly died last year, but Brenda has continued their good work providing a stable family environment for children in need.
She has fostered children on both a long and short-term basis and is currently caring for three youngsters.
Many of the children she has cared for have kept in contact with her as they have grown up – a real testament to the impact she has had on their lives.
One child Brenda fostered long-term was a bridesmaid at her daughter’s wedding.
Another, now a 29-year-old man, knocked on her door recently and told her how well he was doing in employment.
Brenda said she was shocked, but pleased to be nominated for Friend of the Year.
"It’s nice to be nominated – you don’t expect recognition for something that you just enjoy doing,’’ she said.
"Foster care has become a way of life for me and I’d miss it if I wasn’t doing it.
"People say to me I must be special to do this, but I see it as doing something I enjoy and, hopefully, I’m helping people.
"A lot of the children have kept in touch. I’ve had phone calls and letters and it’s nice to see the positive outcomes."
