Category sponsor

LONGLEY Park Kia is a 100% Huddersfield Company and is proud to sponsor The Friend of the Year Award.

Established in 1981, Longley Park KIA at Paddock is unique in our great town.

Having seen many car dealers come and go in its 31 years, the positive reputation of Longley Park KIA just grows and grows. This proves that the values of a friendly and trustworthy company can succeed in a most competitive retail sector.

Despite tough conditions, 2012 is proving to be another amazing and successful year at Longley Park, taking nearly 200 orders for KIA cars in the first 3 months of the year alone. The combination of fantastic new KIA models, the unique seven year warranty – all delivered by a caring dealer – are reasons for this continued success.

For over 30 years this local independent dealership has put friendship and family care values at its core so this award above all others is most appropriate.

So it gives us great delight to name and meet the Friend of the Year nominees.

TWO men who are greatly enhancing the lives of elderly and vulnerable people around Huddersfield have been jointly nominated.

And they have also bucked the myth that only women can volunteer for the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS).

John Brooke and John Battye are both “inspirational” volunteers for the organisation.

Their visits to the elderly and vulnerable are often the highlight of the week for the people they are visiting.

John Brooke, of Milnsbridge, has worked for the WRVS for over five years. He regularly visits two people with learning difficulties and a woman who has recently been discharged from hospital.

The 50-year-old had to retire early from work as a delivery driver for a plant hire firm due to a fractured spine and has recently been diagnosed with osteoporosis – but his thoughts and time are devoted to helping others.

He regularly takes the people he visits on trips to garden centres, bowling alleys and coffee shops as well as sitting and chatting to them at home.

John said: “The people I visit have become friends and I get a buzz out of helping them to enjoy their lives. It is great to see their faces light up as they enjoy themselves.”

John Battye, 60, of Brockholes, got involved with WRVS three years ago after retiring as a BT engineer.

He visits two elderly people in the Holme Valley for tea and a chat every week, helping them with any issues such as form filling, shopping or collecting prescriptions. He also recently helped one old lady move home.

“I really do enjoy it,’’ he said. “I feel as though I am doing something worthwhile and helping others, which is important.”

John also helps people with debt in his capacity as a support worker for Christians Against Poverty (CAP).

WRVS spokesman Philip Ross said: “John Battye is one of our inspirational volunteers. The impact his visits have on the people he sees is beneficial and so special.

“When the new Home from Hospital service was being set up, John Brooke got involved right at the beginning and helped to form the basis of the new service”.

SHIRLEY Simmonds gave a lift to someone attending the founding meeting of the Friend to Friend charity in Holmfirth 18 years ago and ended up becoming a lynch pin of the organisation.

She was instrumental in setting up the Holmfirth, Honley and Marsden groups of the charity, which is dedicated to providing activities for elderly people to help combat isolation and loneliness.

Friend to Friend now has 16 branches in the Huddersfield area. The Holmfirth and Honley groups meet twice a month for lunch and run a range of activities, projects and tai chi classes.

Former teacher Shirley, 76, of Holmfirth, has been involved with charity work since she retired from teaching 20 years ago.

She used to volunteer with Cameo, a charity which helped the elderly and disabled with transport, as well as volunteering for the Samaritans.

She is now a driving force for Friend to Friend, applying her considerable organisational skills to the charity. Her days are filled with thinking up new activities, organising them and then helping the elderly to enjoy them.

She has run a project on textile heritage and is currently working on getting people involved in an oral history project with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund which she helped to organise.

Shirley was unanimously nominated by all eight volunteers from Holmfirth and Honley.

Colleague Shirley Boardman said: “Shirley shows great creativity and inventiveness and puts in many hours organising quizzes and activities. She interacts so positively with members, drawing them out and helping them to have a happy time. Without Shirley’s input and tireless work the lives of a good many elderly people would have been lonelier, less happy and less fulfilled.”

Shirley said “I am quite flattered to be nominated. I just like the members and enjoy working with them and I think they get quite a lot out of it”.

PENSIONER Nancy Whitwam hasn’t time for work these days – she’s far too busy helping other people.

Nancy, 76, of Fartown, puts in a full working week as a volunteer for Agewell.

She spends countless hours talking to and supporting elderly people and helps run day care at Birkby Croft sheltered housing where she is also chairman of the management committee.

Every Tuesday she leads a group of older people on a full day excursion. The day trips are the highlight of the week for many participants and destinations have included Manchester, York and Scarborough.

A typical week for Nancy – a former rag trade worker – involves the type of duties more commonly associated with a chief executive such as attending Agewell planning and funding meetings, dealing with the group’s membership, policies and procedures, enlisting business support and supervising workers and volunteers.

She is also involved with the Fartown Village Hall committee, is chairman of her local Neighbourhood Watch and a member of the new Community First panel in Ashbrow which tries to attract funding to the area.

She is currently involved in trailblazing inter-generational work linking the elderly with pupils at North Huddersfield Trust School in Fartown.

Agewell’s Graham Hellawell said: “Nancy has shown outstanding commitment to the communities of Fartown and Birkby. She is deeply dedicated to supporting older people in the area and is well respected for work she does.

“She never complains about the amount of time she puts in and will always go that extra mile.

“She is unflinching and passionate in her commitment to improve the lives of older people.”

Nancy, who has volunteered for Agewell for 11 years, said: “I get out of it more than I put in. I have made loads of friends and I get a real pleasure out of helping others.

“I am a great believer in community cohesion”.