Today we reach the end of our countdown to tomorrow night’s Examiner Community Awards hosted by Nina Hossain at the John Smith’s Stadium. It’s the Community Event category and the winner will be revealed at the glittering event.
Cummins Turbo Technologies is extremely proud to continue our support of the Examiner awards ceremony and in 2018 we are sponsoring the Community Event Award.
Cummins has a long history in Huddersfield on the St Andrews Road site where the turbocharger company was originally founded in 1952.
In the first year, Holset employed 25 people and had sales of £45,000. In 1973, Holset was purchased by Cummins and today we have approximately 1,000 people employed in Huddersfield and the global turbocharger business now exceeds $1bn.
Cummins has been committed to corporate social responsibility in all our local communities around the world for over 40 years. Cummins enables all of its employees globally to use at least four work hours to contribute to local projects and partners by leveraging and unleashing their own unique skills to help address community needs. In 2017 we engaged 760 members of our staff in community work contributing over 7,600 hours. Our aim is to build prosperous communities and improve lives.
We know that the Examiner Community Awards is a fantastic event that recognises some truly outstanding work in our area. We are excited to be there again this year.
It began back in 1927 ... and it’s still going strong.
Ravensknowle Children’s Gala is a tradition that the Moldgreen and surrounding community has now upheld for 90 years and aims to provide a great day out for youngsters aged from four to 14.
And at the milestone event staged last summer around 4,000 people enjoyed a host of family attractions and entertainment.
Ravensknowle Gala programme and publicity secretary David Smith, who has been involved in the event for 20 years, said: “The highlight for me is seeing so many families coming down and the smiles on the kids faces. It was a great day. It was buzzing.”
Planning for the next gala starts in the early autumn and it’s a mammoth task as the 12-strong organising committee needs to raise at least £3,000 each year. The cost of staging the event is far higher but is offset by the fees stallholders have to pay to attend to sell their wares.
The committee also organises all kinds of fundraising events ranging from race nights to supermarket bag packs and even goes knocking on doors in the Moldgreen area asking people to chip in.
David said: “Under our constitution we provide a free day’s entertainment and a free tea which we still do so we need to organise the fundraising to make it happen.”
The gala is a non-profit organisation so everything they make is ploughed into the following year’s event.
In the past the tea consisted of youngsters sitting around large tables in the streets but in more recent times they are in goodie bags for them to munch as they enjoy the entertainment. The organisers usually hand out around 600 but one year it was as high as 1,200.
There is always a fairground, procession, gala queen and a talent competition with the winners from the event staged in the park the night before the gala starring on stage during the gala day itself.
This year the procession will be led by Delph Silver Band and the entertainment will include Standedge International Stunt Team doing thrilling motorbike tricks and Huddersfield Giants cheerleaders.
The gala is always held on the last Sunday in June.
It’s a bumper weekend of events that has well and truly put Lindley on the map.
Lindley Carnival is staged on the last Saturday in June - last year it was its 10th anniversary - while on the Sunday there is a 10k run for serious runners and a fun run for children.
Over the years it’s reaped charity cash. Huddersfield Down Syndrome Support Group has been the official charity for the last three years and they did all their own fundraising on the day.
This year it will be the Royal Air Force Association to mark 100 years since the RAF was founded.
The carnival is now in its 11th year, the runs in their sixth year and this is the third year the events have kicked off a day earlier with an evening street party on the Friday on the main road through Lindley, Lidget Street.
The party will includes food, live music and craft stalls and is being supported by Love Lindley, a group of local businesses and residents.
The 2017 event formed part of The Great Get Together, a series of community celebrations taking place across Kirklees in memory of murdered Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox who died in 2016.
Lindley Carnival features various stalls, activities and fairground rides and there is usually live entertainment from Lindley Infant and Junior Schools.
The 10km run is for registered competitors over the age of 15, starting and finishing on Lidget Street and 500 runners took part last year.
The fun run is a 2km run for children aged between four and 15.
The events are being organised by Lindley Community Group, a not-for-profit community organisation which has been going for 14 years to promote and organise events and support local initiatives and projects for young people.
Chairman Cahal Burke said: “We have a small committee which is helped by several volunteers. There is a lot to plan and organise so as soon as one year is over we are planning the next one. More than 300 runners have already signed up for the 10k so we are well on target to have 500 again this year. It’s a manageable number and we can deal with that.”
For more information or to sign up to do the run go to www.lindleygroup.org.uk
It’s a fitting tribute to a young rugby player who lost his life so tragically.
Huddersfield Giants ran its first Ronan Costello Memorial Festival last summer - and it was a complete success with this year’s organised for Thursday, June 14.
More than 250 Under 7s, 8s and 9s players were at Leeds Road Playing Fields for the rugby tournament to remember the 17-year-old rising Giants Academy star who died in hospital days after he was badly hurt during a game against Salford Red Devils in June 2016.
The full Giants Super League and Academy squads were on hand to lend their support, as well as a number of former players and Rugby League legend Jason Robinson who played for England at both rugby union and rugby league.
Huddersfield Giants Community Manager and Category 3 Academy Head Coach Chris Cullimore, who coached Ronan for two years, said: “This year the aim is to make it bigger and better than last year. We want to bring the community together at what is a difficult time for all, doing something that Ronan loved, playing the sport of rugby league. We want the festival to be fun for all and a real celebration of Ronan’s life.”
A donation is required to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance in order to be entered into the tournament. Players who take part in the festival will also receive a free ticket to the Giants vs Catalans game on Friday, June 15 where they will parade at half-time with medals.
Giants Player Performance Manager Steve Hardisty said: “It was such a warm atmosphere at the festival. The amount of kids who were there was tremendous.
“It’s well documented that rugby league is a small family and they all pull together in tragedy. It’s just testament to all the followers of our sport.”
Andy Kelly, head of youth at Huddersfield Giants, said: “We wanted to have an event that celebrated Ronan’s love for rugby league and Ronan’s legacy will live on in this tournament. Ronan was a fantastic student who embraced the whole concept of modern academy life, the educational side, the rugby side and his behaviour was very professional. Our expectation of him was high and he delivered.”
Jason Robinson said: “This is a celebration of Ronan’s life - he loved rugby league. There were hundreds of kids having a really good time. It’s great to remember but it’s also something to celebrate as well.”
Ronan’s family said soon after the tragedy: “Ronan was a loving and caring 17-year-old lad who was dedicated to his family and friends. He was a credit to all of his family and we are so proud of him.”
