Community Awards 2024

Braunstone Heritage Archive Group is made up of local volunteers interested in investigating and recording the history of Braunstone. Their projects, including community archaeological digs, bring together both the communities of Braunstone Town (Leicestershire) and Braunstone (Leicester City), to discover the origins of their joint village.

When the group was founded in 2011 a large amount of documentation, photographs and items were discovered in a damp loft of Braunstone Town Civic Centre. It took over three years to sort out and catalogue the 16 cardboard boxes containing these items. These items gave us several projects to follow up on the history of the items. 

One of these items contained handmade display boards regarding a proposed conservation area in conjunction with a City Council’s conservation proposal in 1973/74. Researching these boards in 2021, our group realised that the failure to incorporate the county side of Main Street in with the City’s proposal has meant that many of the oldest timber framed buildings, all of which were on the County side of Main Street, were not protected from development. 

50 years was in our view too long a period not to have had a conservation area for the whole village. Our investigation into conservation area procedures showed that the initial requirement was the preparation of a draft character appraisal. Enquiries with our local Town Council and Blaby District Council as to who should prepare this appraisal showed that there was not funding allocated to prepare an appraisal. So, members of our group decided to prepare a free draft character appraisal and then officially presented it to our Town Council with a view they would pass on this draft to Blaby District Council. 
 
After three years of consultation with relevant officers, Blaby District Council unanimously approved the designation of Braunstone Village Conservation Area on 24 September 2024 and adopted both the Character Appraisal and Joint Management Plan. 

Thanks to our group’s initiative back in 2021, the whole of our village centre is now covered by a conservation area, giving us some security that any future development in the village will be in keeping with the character of the core of Braunstone’s village. 

For more information visit the Braunstone Heritage Archive Group Facebook page

COMMBUS is a registered, community transport charity that was set up in 1992 and is run entirely by volunteers. The aim is to provide an affordable local transport service for the elderly, or people with a disability or limited mobility, who cannot access public transport for any reason. 

COMMBUS operates a dial-a-ride service five days a week within Blaby district picking up passengers from their own homes wherever possible to take them to local shopping centres and towns such as Fosse Park, Beaumont Leys and Hinckley. They also operate special trips to places further afield such as Market Harborough, Rugby-Elliot’s Fields, Oakham, Foxton Locks and Stratford-upon-Avon.

The passengers would not normally go without assistance, so a volunteer escort is provided on each bus. The drivers, escorts and office staff are all volunteers. The first thing people do when they get on a COMMBUS is to talk as nearly all users live on their own. It is a great day out for them meeting up and making friends.

For more information visit the Commbus website or Facebook page

Enderby Lawn Tennis Club is a community-based registered charity whose aim is to make tennis available for everyone. The club was founded in 1937 and became a charity in 2019. The club is run entirely by volunteers.

The club provides free sessions for adults with learning disabilities and children with special educational needs. Club volunteers help with the sessions and both groups have reported improvements in health and wellbeing, including better co-ordination and improved confidence.

In the last few years, the club has made it easier for everyone to use the tennis courts by making online court booking available (the first tennis club in Leicestershire to do this) and providing rackets and balls free of charge for those who wish to play but do not have the kit. Courts can be booked for use any day of the week up to 10pm at night.

Looking forward, the club is working with Enderby Parish Council to introduce a scheme where the club will provide five free hours a month for people in the parish. The parish council will be promoting the offer on their website and their newsletter. In addition to the above, the club has run open days and sessions just for women and girls and for Girl Guides.

The club has 170 members, 80 of whom are juniors. Members, whose ages range from 4 to 80+, can play social and competitive tennis. There are relaxed sessions on Mondays and Fridays for players who enjoy their tennis and also enjoy a coffee and chat in between games. More competitive sessions are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Club members raised over £600 for Ukraine and regularly donate items to the Ukraine collection held every Friday.

The club has invested in a defibrillator and with the help of the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust have installed an external defibrillator cabinet so that the defibrillator is accessible to anyone who uses the courts and to the public. The defibrillator is registered with The Circuit so that emergency services can direct people to it if required.

To support the many club initiatives, members volunteer their time to raise funds. This year the club members ran a cafe for a day at the Cosby Yarn Bomb and made donations during the club tennis finals. Members also submit applications for grants, a time-consuming process which takes a lot of care and dedication.

The club won the Leicestershire Club of the Year award in 2023 for its efforts to be an inclusive community club.

The number of pay and play users has increased by over 500% since the introduction of online booking.

The club maintains the courts to a high standard so that everyone can enjoy their tennis. New LED floodlights were installed in 2023, and the court surface had a deep clean in 2024 which will help keep the courts playable for another five years.

For more information visit the Enderby Lawn Tennis Club website

The Littlethorpe Community Association has been going for over 40 years, run by a group of Littlethorpe residents. It organises various events throughout the year for all ages. However, there is a particularly dedicated small group of retired volunteers, who provide a warm space for residents and newcomers to meet on alternate Wednesdays between 9.30am to 12.30pm in Littlethorpe hall, Biddle Road. Tea/coffee and biscuits are offered at a small cost of 50p, and homemade soup and a bread roll are also available for a cost of £1.50. This is a very popular morning, which also includes the sale of pre-owned books and jigsaws. Also, a bingo drop-in on the second Saturday of the month is well attended. These volunteers make everyone welcome and create a good, friendly atmosphere full of laughter. 

The group has engaged people to come and meet with others in a warm comfortable place. Some say it is the only time they get out to socialise. The book sale has been running for many years but the social meeting with refreshments alongside has been happening since 2020 (Covid), with donations from volunteers of homemade cakes to help funding. This event brings our community together with others who travel from Enderby and Narborough to come and join in. Along with regular events, they organise a summer outing and a Christmas meal.

This small group of volunteers spend a lot of their time and put hard work into organising community events and they should be recognised for their hard work and determination.

For more information visit the Littlethorpe Community Association Facebook page

Lubbesthorpe Alive was set up to help grow and establish the community within New Lubbesthorpe. It is a Community Interest Charity that is run by a group of volunteer directors within the community alongside Sue Steer, the community pioneer worker. It enables and runs a variety of groups, including inter-faith toddler groups, school holiday clubs, and connections groups. Sue herself goes above and beyond to welcome new residents, visiting every new homeowner once they move in, and offers wellbeing and signposting support for those within the community that are vulnerable or just need a little help.

Lubbesthorpe Alive Community Interest Company has been established in Lubbesthorpe for several years. This nomination is specifically for their work on women's wellbeing, which has been well received in the community. In addition, they run various groups that bring residents together and offer support that goes above and beyond.

For more information visit the Lubbesthorpe Alive website

The Next Chapter is a charity based in Countesthorpe and its aim is to assist with the rescue and rehabilitation of horses and ponies that may be in need of help. This includes those found abandoned or unwanted in the Leicestershire area and beyond. The charity was established in early 2023 to run in parallel with Horse Watch which was set up some years ago. During that time, the charity has worked with many organisations, local and travelling communities, to prevent suffering to animals and to secure sanctuary for horses of all ages. Management of the charity is overseen by Trustees. 

Over a number of years, Shelley Page, the charity manager, has built up successful working relationships with many organisations such as the police, RSPCA and local vets. Horses come to us for a number of reasons. For example, from people who may own horses and can no longer keep them. Those reasons could be that the owners themselves are sick and cannot provide adequate care for the future, or the horse is sick and requires veterinary care. Also unfortunately, horses are abandoned in places where sometimes they are not found in time or are seriously ill or injured in road traffic accidents. By working with both the County Council and the various communities and agencies who are often actively seeking help and support, the Charity is able to take ponies into its care to be looked after. No suffering animal is ever turned away.  
 
The charity receives no government funding and relies on public support, donations, and a dedicated team of volunteers who are also involved with endless fundraising to meet the costs of food, supplies and veterinary care. At one time this year we had around 35 foals and horses. Many of the horses, having spent many months with us, are now preparing for their new homes, or the next chapter of their lives. The Next Chapter has been featured on the BBC East Midlands TV news several times over the last year because of the fantastic work of our volunteers and their dedication to helping the horses. 

Social media sites have helped spread the news about what is happening at The Next Chapter at any given time. There is enormous interest in the ponies and particularly in the young foals that the charity has in its care. For example, in summer 2023 a foal that was only days old was found and the police were instrumental in contacting the charity when no one else was able to assist. The foal was named Mickey after the police officer who attended to help him. Mickey was transported to the site and a pen quickly made for him where he would spend the next few weeks. A number of people from the village and some from further afield responded to appeals for volunteers to help with bottle feeding for Mickey and this continued every two hours, day and night, for a few months. He became quite a celebrity! Since then, we have had several babies. We currently have three. 
 
There are a lot of people who volunteer their time intermittently to help the charity and some every day. They come during their time off from work, others are already retired and spend time doing work appropriate to their fitness levels and some are students on leave from university. Many of the volunteers are experienced with horse care and a few have none. Many of the horses are frightened of people due to their life experiences. Although a lot of the work is hard, there are times when providing comfort to the horses by talking to them, getting them to learn to be touched and groomed and of course bottle feeding a foal only days old is wonderful. Our foals come to us often because the mother has died or is missing and they are in urgent need of round the clock care, which means bottle feeds with foal milk day and night. This work is shared with our available volunteers on a rota basis.  
 
Our volunteers bring different skills, and some will help with building shelters, or feed boxes, or will be finding ways to raise funds. We rely totally on our volunteers to support the charity and horses in our care. We could not manage without them. Working at the yard helping with the horses is a great way to keep fit as it requires physical input whether it is keeping the fields clean and tidy or grooming horses. There is great satisfaction working in the outdoors and fresh air. Better than any gym! Not all the work, however, requires physical strength. We plant and grow flowers and herbs, and we have chickens. We have also had some early discussions regarding social prescribing for people who may fit the criteria. 

This year, the work has been very hard throughout the winter especially as the ground has been so wet. Horses have had to be fed when the grass is submerged under rainwater and mud and the volunteers have to carry the equivalent of half a bale of hay to each horse twice or three times a day. This is a lot of lifting and carrying when we had thirty plus horses! Our volunteers also have to keep the fields in a healthy state and the removal of barrow loads of manure through wet mud every day to the muck heap is exhausting, heavy and dirty work. 

Despite this we have had a lot of people who have visited to come and see the horses. As a result, some people have had a great emotional experience by spending time in the quiet natural world of the countryside. They enjoy walking along the footpath to talk to the horses who are always interested in seeing a human face. We have also had several recently bereaved members of the community come to the site. Listening to their stories and seeing how much it means to them to be close to the animals, to touch their soft noses and appreciate the work we are doing is very heartening. We believe that we can improve the emotional health of some of our visitors who have spent time with our animals. We have even met someone whose husband was killed in a car accident 25 years ago caused by horses wandering on the road. She so appreciated the work we were doing to keep horses and road users safe. Our input is much appreciated by the local police.  
 
We have had visitors who have lost loved ones, pets, jobs, and are suffering with mental health difficulties and some of these people go on to become volunteers as it is so comforting to be able to contribute to the welfare of the animals and be physically active in providing care. These are some comments from our visitors: 
 
“I’ve been to The Next Chapter site a few times to visit the horses, help feed the foals and construct a shelter. Like most people I’m not in a position to own a horse, but it was so great to reconnect with the natural world through them and feel that I was helping get them on the way to finding a good home.”
 
“I first went to the rescue with a friend just after my husband passed away and there was Mikey (foal). He had recently been rescued at just a few days old. I was able to help with his bottle feeds which I found comfort in, and sometimes laughter as he grew stronger and his personality began to shine through. Those times helped me on many occasions as I was helping save a life and he was helping me to cope. Cuddles with Mikey therapy.... Wonderful.”

Some of our visitors become the new owners of horses who are ready to be rehomed. This is the experience of one such person.  
 
"Sully’s next chapter. 11 August 2024, the day I met the most beautiful and shy horse, Sully. Walking around the rescue horses, as my husband snapped photos, I kept reminding him that we were NOT getting another horse, despite his excitement in pointing out different ones. I was the one saying no. We chatted with the friendly staff at Next Chapter Rescue, who eagerly shared the stories of each horse. Just as we were about to leave, I spotted Sully. He was timid, staying away from the fence and wary of strangers. In that moment, I felt deep down that he was special. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t seeking attention; his eyes spoke volumes about his beautiful soul and his need to learn trust. At that moment, my husband Harry realised I had been talking nonsense: we were absolutely getting another horse, and his name would be Sully! 
 
Shelley, the founder of the next chapter rescue, welcomed us into Sully’s paddock and explained that he had arrived at the rescue due to injuries he had sustained in recent months. It was clear from her words that he held a special place in her heart. I felt a pang of guilt at the thought of taking Sully away from the humans he had started to trust, the ones who had cared for him daily and shown him kindness during his recovery. But I felt that Sully’s story resonated with my own. A possibility that we could heal each other’s scars.  
 
The dedicated team at Next Chapter Rescue pour their love into the animals, ensuring each one has the best chance for a bright future. While some may have needs that prevent them from being rehomed, horses like Sully have the opportunity for a new beginning, thanks to the commitment of the staff. It’s important to note that this is a non-profit charity; they do this work without any financial gain. 
 
Each week we visited Sully, always greeted with warmth by the staff who updated us on his progress. I never felt unwelcome or that Sully’s needs weren’t being met. It was evident how much the staff cared for those rescue ponies! When it came time for Sully to come home, my heart raced with excitement, knowing I loved him so much already. Yet, I could see the emotions on the staff’s faces as they each came to say goodbye. It was hard not to feel guilty, but I knew this was Sully’s next chapter, and another horse in need would take his place at the rescue. 
 
Sully has settled into his new home wonderfully; it feels like he’s always been a part of my life. His whinny when I arrive with a bucket or hay is music to my ears. He’s so vocal, and I love how he shows his personality, especially when he uses my body for chin scratches! He has truly become my shadow. 
 
Our journey with Sully began slowly, with each day focused on building trust. As I learn more about him, my love for him only deepens. If I could rescue them all, I would! There’s something uniquely special about the heart of a rescue animal; each one has a story. I promise you, if you give them your heart and kindness, they will return that love tenfold because all they need is to feel cherished. Thank you Shelley and the team for allowing me to adopt Sully."

This is why the charity exists. The costs involved for hay, food and vet bills are huge, especially for 30 plus horses, some with complex needs. The fact that we have voluntary help from a small army of people means we can continue to exist. Without them, our costs would average £50 for basic livery, per horse, per week meaning many thousands of pounds. We cannot thank them enough for their contribution helping the horses on to The Next Chapter of their lives. 

This year, we have used opportunities to help the wider community. We have forged links with other organisations locally such as the scouts who have visited us to find out about our work. They in turn have had cake sales to raise funds for us. We have a lot of items donated to us to use to fundraise. Sometimes we hear of other charities that need help, and we have contributed from our own supplies and contacts to help them. For example, we have sent baby clothing to mothers in Gambia via a local school. We have donated newborn baby clothing to a Leicester hospital. We have donated children's books to a school. We have donated to Fosse Villages Animal Foodbank who also have helped families in need for items such as children's clothing and household items. Also, we have donated to organisations that are supporting victims of domestic violence who are trying to establish a new life with donations for the home.  
 
We are also supporting an equine charity in Egypt who provide health care to exhausted and injured horses whose lives are spent pulling carts of tourists to and from the pyramids. The head gear is made of chain and the heat of the sun makes the metal hot and burn the noses of the horse. Having been made aware of this issue, our local Countesthorpe craft group have been busy making soft nose bands to wrap around the chain head collars. This is such an improvement for the horses as now they don't suffer from burns as the fabric acts as a cushion and is more comfortable. Sometimes, fabric from un-useable clothing is used to produce these items. We are now much more aware of our responsibilities to try to reduce waste and look for ways to re-use, re-purpose or re-cycle items that we cannot directly raise money from in order to reduce our carbon footprint. 

For more information visit The Next Chapter Facebook page

Thistly Meadow PTA is an extraordinary PTA based at the heart of Blaby District and is thriving, developing amazing experiences for the young people of Thistly Meadow but also the wider local school community.

Over the last 18 months the PTA have reformed after covid restrictions to serve the school community and have fundraised more than £17,000. This has enabled the school to develop their provision, both academically through funding the redevelopment of the school library, and gifting books to our youngest children on entry to the school to create a reading for pleasure culture. In addition, the PTA has provided computer and technology equipment, sports kit and equipment to create a sense of belonging as well as upgrading the school site. This has included voluntary manual ground works to prepare the playground and paddock, providing playground equipment, upgrading of the school’s community paddock area to further enhance their community offer and Forest School intervention.

Thistly Meadow has its own beehive - the only school to have this in the local area - producing honey for the local community whilst enhancing the lives of young people. This has also contributed to the wellbeing of the school pupils, staff and parents and has been facilitated by the PTA volunteers. 

Whilst their high quality events serve the school children and their families, the scale of their events, including community BBQs, Halloween Spooktacular events, and their annual Christmas light switch on, have seen the PTA reach out to the wider community. They have also developed positive relationships with local stakeholders and place the school at the heart of the community to communicate that Thistly Meadow is more than just a school and is a community safe space.

The small but ever-growing group of volunteers deserve to be recognised for the high impact they are rapidly having within our school, community and district and to shine a light on the wonderful work they are doing, as well as the impact of a thriving, collaborative, people-centered PTA on all exposed to it.

Key achievements include:

• Raised funds in excess of £17,000
• Redeveloped community spaces
• Provided resources and provisions to enhance the life experiences and wellbeing of the pupils of Thistly Meadow and the wider community
• Development of the school site paddock and playgrounds
• Introduction of the school beehive 
• Placed the school at the heart of the community 
• Development of pupil voice for their voices to be heard on the distribution of funding and future fundraising

The group is collaborative and involves pupils, parents, teachers, past parents and local stakeholders.

For more information visit the Thistly Meadow Primary School PTA Facebook page

Wombles in Litter Education was started by two passionate litter pickers - Keith Johnson and Geoff Walker - around four years ago. Their aim is to educate children on the importance to our environment of disposing of litter correctly and responsibly.

They visit local schools and community groups giving presentations on the impact that littering has on the environment, including showing some items that have been found by litter pickers dating back to the 1980s, and the importance of disposing of litter responsibly. After they have given their presentation, they can arrange a local pick. They also donate litter picking kits to the groups.

Up to now, the group, now numbering eight presenters, have given their presentation to over 48,000 children in and around our district!

For more information visit the WILE webpage