Unsung heroes the stars at Pride of Shropshire awards

Dozens of outstanding finalists were recognised for their courage, determination and generosity at the celebration evening at Shrewsbury Town Football Club and organised by the Shropshire Star.

And nine extraordinary characters were presented with prizes for their heartwarming tales of inspiration.

Hosted by Dicky Dodd, radio presenter for Signal 107, the evening began with a speech from Richard Langton, chairman of the Georgia Williams Trust. He told of how the community-spirited 17-year-old from Wellington, Telford suddenly lost her life and a legacy was born out of the overwhelming desire from her community to take something positive from the tragedy. In its first year the trust has raised £65,000 to help young people to follow in Georgia's footsteps and make a difference.

Richard paid tribute to the hard work of Georgia's parents Lynnette and Steve Williams, who listened proudly to the achievements of their daughter.

It was an appropriate introduction to the awe-inspiring tales of all three finalists in each category, which were shared before the winners were announced.

Winner of the Learner Award, sponsored by Telford College of Arts and Technology was Shane Bennett. After failed attempts at college, Shane is now thriving after being taken under the wings of a haven for youngsters struggling at various levels.

The Crowsmill Craft Centre in Alveley near Bridgnorth works with people who have learning difficulties, mental health issues and young people not in education, employment or training.

Dickon Pitt, centre director, nominated Shane explaining how he has gone from being a young man with no self-confidence to someone who now helps others in the workshop.

Bashfully accepting his award and admitting he was not used to being on stage, Shane said: "When I was first up there I didn't really know what to do but they helped me and I'm a lot better."

Leanne Rawlinson, from Telford collected the Special Young Person Award sponsored by Shrewsbury Town Football Club. She showed maturity beyond her years when she comforted an extremely vulnerable woman who had been attacked in a stairwell.

Leanne remained remarkably calm and prevented vital evidence from being destroyed.

Instead of walking away she helped the victim, persuading her to report the incident to the police, which in turn led to the conviction of the attacker.

When asked what went through her mind when she discovered the woman in distress, Leanne said: "I just knew that I had to help her. She stopped two people before me and they just walked away and I couldn't leave her." Leanne now keeps in regular contact with the woman.

The Carer Award, sponsored by Advantage Healthcare Group went to Sue O'Neil who was unable to be at the evening to accept her award and Chris Leggett, Shropshire Star communications manager, accepted on her behalf.

Sue was nominated by Frank Fuller of Market Drayton. She works at the Beech House Nursing Home in Wollerton, near Hodnet. She joined the team nearly 20 years ago as a carer and now acts as their activities organiser. Frank, whose wife is a resident there, said it's thanks to Sue that everyone in the home has interesting things to do. She's a great motivator and manages to strike up a caring relationship with each of the home's 48 residents as well as their families.

Carys Jones was awarded the Youth Community Award sponsored by Total Response.

The A-level student from Llanfyllin High School, was inspired to act following the tragic death of April Jones. She developed Invizzilead – an alarm which uses radio waves to notify parents when their child goes beyond a pre-defined distance. And this year she scooped a national engineering award for her design. School governor Peter Lewis has said Carys is one the Llanfyllin's budding engineers of the future.

When asked what invention she was currently working on, Carys revealed she had created a "sleep sphere" which used ultrasonic technology, essential oils and music to keep people from counting sheep.

The Courage Award, sponsored by Pure Telecom went to the Dunderdale family from Market Drayton. Father Nayman along with sons John and Josh showed immense courage and rescued their elderly neighbour from a house fire.

After hearing a smoke alarm in the early hours of the morning, John contacted the fire service before the intrepid trio smashed their way into her smoke-filled home, dealt with the source of the fire, and led Anna, who is in her 80s, to safety.

Nayman welled up with pride for his sons. He said: "I am immensely proud of them. They went in first. To know your sons are in there trying to save an old lady, I am proud of them both."

John said: "We didn't really think about it to be honest we just wanted to get in there and get her out. It was a spur of the moment thing. She was screaming for help."

The Environmental Champion Award, sponsored by Denso went to Judy Coleridge who has been active on green issues for a long time but her efforts on producing the Shrewsbury Green Guide is to be particularly commended.

The aim of the guide is to give people information to help them make more environmentally friendly choices. The guide is regularly updated and it is carried on a dedicated website. Always looking for new initiatives, Judy has now started to create vegetable gardens on rough land close to where she lives. Judy told people to visit www.shrewsburygreenguide.org.uk for tips on how to be more environmentally friendly.

Carmen Culliss won the title of Good Neighbour sponsored by Shropshire Housing Group.

A neighbour wrote in to say Carmen is a caring and compassionate lady who makes time for people despite having her own problems. An example of this is when she drove all the way to Manchester to collect the daughter of a lady in the village who was extremely poorly. She looks after dogs, cats and even goldfish when her neighbours are away. And,since the announcement in the Shropshire Star of Carmen reaching the finals, two more neighbours put pen to paper keen to add to the testimony. She has been described as Frodesley's Good Samaritan.

When asked what drove her to be so helpful, Carmen joked: "I'm probably just nosey." She added: "I'm just lucky I've got lovely neighbours, lovely friends and family and if I can add a bit to their day, why not?"

The Local Hero award sponsored by Precision Colour Printing went to Ben Taylor from Shrewsbury.

A reservist with The Mercian Regiment, he received the Queen's Gallantry Award last year following his actions on his first operational tour in Afghanistan. He rescued eight comrades in complete darkness from a vehicle that had overturned into a canal during a mission. Ben was catapulted out of the vehicle but his colleagues were trapped inside. Despite his own injuries Ben repeatedly dived under water to help and guide them to safety. He said he didn't think about whether he was risking his own life and could not remember the events.

"I just needed to get them out," he said. "It was automatic for me. "It's brothers and sisters I've served with for four and a half months, I would have saved their lives, they would have saved mine."

The Shropshire Star's People's Champion Award was presented to Julie Duhra by editor Martin Wright. A community stalwart and familiar face in Hadley, Julie runs Jule's Convenience Store on Haybridge Road. One notable act of kindness was to raise money to help pay for the funeral of nine-year-old Jayden-Lee McIvor who was knocked down and killed outside her shop.

Julie is also involved in many local charity events, has run the London Marathon to support the Severn Hospice and taken part in dragon races and fun runs. She has even repaired the potholes on the unadopted road in front of her store and apparently her vegetable samosas are amazing. And her secret recipe is – they're free. "I give them away," she joked. "Everything tastes better when its free."

The crowning accolade of the overall Pride of Shropshire award was given to Carys Jones.

Last year's winner Katyia Johnson handed over the award with Bev Jackson from TCAT.

It was an emotional moment for Katyia, then Rowe, from Woodside, in Telford, who last stepped onto the stage after using her own loss to raise money to help others. It came after doctors warned Katyia that her unborn baby boy's brain had not formed properly.

Weighing just over 6lbs, he died nine hours after being born at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Katyia and partner Shane have since become fundraisers for Sands, the Stillborn and Neonatal Death charity.

The couple set up website www.lucian.johnson.muchloved.com not only as a celebration of their son's life but also to encourage people to donate to Sands.

She spoke of how far she had come since receiving her award.

"I was inundated with emails from other women who had been through similar things and I would reply to them all," she said. "That's what got me through the first few months after losing Lucian. And it helped me not feel so alone."

Katyia and Shane have since married and have a bouncing baby boy eight-month old Saxon. She said: "It's an honour to be here in a room with such amazing people."

The winners

• Overall winner: Carys Jones

• Youth Community Award: Carys Jones

• Special Young Person: Leanne Rawlinson

• People’s Champion: Julie Duhra

• Local Heroes Award: Ben Taylor

• Learner Award: Shane Bennett

• Good Neighbour: Carmen Culliss

• Environmental Champion: Judy Coleridge

• Courage Award: Nayan, John and Josh Dunderdale

• Carer Awards: Sue O’Neil