St Albans’ community ‘heroes’ celebrated at award presentation

St Stephen parish council recognised individuals who have made exceptional contribution: Cameron O’Connor, receiving the 2015 Youth Community award from Cllr Mick Freeman (Image: Photo supplied)

Cameron O’Connor, 16, received the Youth Community Award at the recent annual St Stephen parish council meeting for his voluntary work at the Keech Hospice charity shop in How Wood and at his school.

He started work at Keech as part of his Duke of Edinburgh (DOE) award in 2013 and has stayed on, working Saturdays, helping with computer work and training other DOE volunteers.

The meeting was told that while attending Parmiter’s School in Garston, Cameron also gives up his free time to help with activities for the younger year groups and has helped with the design of the school’s electronic message board.

Also receiving an accolade at the parish’s Community and Youth Community Awards was Niki Dunn, who works with the local scouting organisation.

She was given the Community Award for people aged over 18 as since becoming group scout leader four years ago, the group has more than trebled in size.

Niki devotes her spare time to encouraging, leading and supporting the adult volunteers and plays a key role in the team organising the St Albans Gang Show.

She has also built partnerships with other volunteer groups and organisations and actively encourages the whole group to become involved in events and projects that make a positive impact on the local community.

Council chairman Cllr Mick Freeman said: “There are so many ‘unsung heroes’ out there – we all know someone who works selflessly for the benefit of the community, often without any pay or recognition.

“These awards make sure that those people do get the recognition they deserve and it is particularly gratifying to see that there are young people out there willing to contribute to the community in this way.”