Pride of Shropshire Awards 2016: Meet the winners - in pictures

Carrie Fulcher, from Priorslee in Telford, was named as the overall winner of the 2016 Pride of Shropshire Awards at a glittering reception held at Shrewsbury Town's Greenhous Meadow stadium last night.

For the first time since the awards were launched by the Shropshire Star eight years ago, the winners were selected by our readers, who voted using tokens printed in the newspaper.

Courage and overall winner – Carrie Fulcher

When she was 12, Carrie was wrongly diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy, and later received brain surgery which did not work. More than 20 years later it was discovered she actually had a rare condition called Hypothalamic hamartoma. Carrie founded the Hope for Hypothalamic Hamartoma UK charity to prevent people suffering like she had.

Learner – Sally Joyner

Sally turned the negative, being made redundant from her job at Royal Mail, into a positive when she signed up for a lip-reading course. Now a qualified lip-reading teacher, Sally runs her own business and Sally works with charities that help people suffering from hearing loss.

Young Person – Tallulah Lewis-Schulz

At the age of nine, Tallulah had her head shaved to raise money for Severn Hospice, which cared for her father, Andreas, shortly before he passed away. She had her locks shorn off at school, and hoped to raise £500. However, a video of her story has now been seen by more than 2.5 million people and Tallulah has raised £10,000.

Carer – Judy Freeman

As activities organiser at River Meadow nursing home in Shawbury, Judy prepares activities for residents and arranges visits to the home from people like musicians, artists and farmers with new-born lambs. Her nomination said Judy made residents "feel valued, needed and wanted".

Environmental – Julie Burroughs

Julie is a volunteer with Shropshire Wildlife Trust who was praised for her work with the Friends of Apley Wood. Julie has also worked on the Love Your River – Telford project, and has helped the junior rangers at Telford Town Park. Julie also volunteers with Shropshire Mammal Group and Shropshire Moth Group.

Junior Fundraiser – Guitar Cubed

Tom Barras, 15, and Louis Briggs, 14, are well-known in their home town of Bridgnorth as music duo Guitar Cubed. In April this year they busked for more than 25 hours in Shrewsbury, raising £4,300 for the Shrewsbury Ark homeless charity. The following day they topped the fund up to £5,300 by walking with a team for 22 miles on the day of the Bridgnorth Walk.

Adult Fundraiser –Ed and Ruth Lowe

Ed and Ruth run the Plough Inn at Wellington, and over the past six years have raised more than £83,000 for Help for Heroes and Care for Casualties charities. In addition to this, they have raised money for individuals including a poorly child, an elderly woman who had been burgled, and a young boy who had been knocked down by a car.

Community Champion – The Reverend Jeff Hancocks

Jeff, who served for 23 years as an unpaid minister at Dovaston United Reformed Church, won the award for his impact on the local community. He has set up clubs for the elderly, teenagers, parents and toddlers, and his annual fun day has raised thousands of pounds for good causes.

Outstanding Bravery – Nicola Hill

Nicola's husband, Adrian, was born with one kidney and was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease 10 years ago. His life was transformed when Nicola donated one of her kidneys. But for Nicola, from Oswestry, that was not enough. She now raises money for the British Kidney Patient Association.

Watch our exclusive Pride of Shropshire Awards video

Readers were impressed by the way Carrie, who had a needless brain operation after being wrongly diagnosed, overcame her difficulties to form the Hope for Hypothalamic Hamartoma UK charity.

Shropshire Star editor Martin Wright said: "The standard of entries this year was exceedingly high, and every one of the 26 finalists would have a justifiable claim to the title.

"It has been humbling to hear so many stories of courage and kindness that have taken place in our great county, and it is heartening to know there are so many good people around.

"Carrie's story of how she used her own very difficult experience to help others warms the heart, and she is a very worthy winner of this year's Pride of Shropshire award."

Mother-of-two Carrie, who works in accountancy, formed the charity for sufferers of the rare brain tumour last year after finding very little support available in this country.

Carrie, who helped the charity raise £100,000 in its first year, had spent 20 years suffering from up to 15 seizures a day after being wrongly diagnosed with a right temporal lobe epilepsy when she was 12.

She initially refused to have a lobotomy carried out, but becoming concerned that her young daughters were seeing her have seizures on a daily basis, she reluctantly agreed to have the operation in 2013.

However, the seizures continued, and a second MRI scan showed that she had been wrongly diagnosed and the operation was unnecessary. But even after she had finally been diagnosed with hypothalamic hamartomas, she found there was very little help available as even the specialists did not know much about the illness.

Carrie, 33, said: "I feel very proud, it's lovely that people have put me forward and voted for me, because I haven't done any of it for recognition. I hope it raises the profile of what we are doing, because very little is known about the condition. We have just had a big conference, and I hope we can start to raise the profile of the condition, so other people won't have to suffer like I have done."

She added that she had received much support during the past year.

Signal Radio's Dicky Dodd acted as master of ceremonies for the evening, and said he was immensely proud to be part of it.

"It is an opportunity to honour the heroes of the county who have made an outstanding contribution to their communities," he said.

The Learner of the Year award went to Sally Joyner, who took up lip reading after being made redundant by Royal Mail. She discovered she had a real passion for the subject, and is now a qualified lip-reading teacher. Sally, of Bagley Drive, Shrewsbury, now runs her own business and also works with charities that help people with hearing loss.

The Special Young Person award went to 11-year-old Tallulah Lewis-Schulz, from Much Wenlock, who raised £10,000 for Severn Hospice in memory of her father Andreas. She said: "It's good that people think that what I have done is good. It's really exciting."

The Carer of the Year award went to Judy Freeman for her work as activities organiser at River Meadow nursing home in Shawbury. She prepares activities for residents and arranges visits from musicians, artists and farmers with newborn lambs.

The Environmental Champion award went to Julie Burroughs, who had been nominated by Colin Preston of Shropshire Wildlife Trust.

This year, for the first time, there were two categories for fundraising. The Junior Fundraiser title went to 15-year-old Tom Barras and 14-year-old Louis Briggs. The teenagers from Bridgnorth, who perform as music duo Guitar Cubed, raised £4,300 for the Shrewsbury Ark drop-in centre for the homeless during a 25-hour busking marathon.

Pride of Shropshire Awards 2016 - as it happened

Tom said: "I'm really excited, we're really happy. It is recognition for what we have done."

The Adult Fundraiser category went to Ed and Ruth Lowe who run The Plough Inn at Wellington, who over the past six years raised more than £83,000 for military charities Help For Heroes and Care for Casualties.

The Rev Jeff Hancocks, an unpaid minister at Dovaston United Reformed Church, took the Community Champion title. He has created clubs for the elderly, teenagers, parents and toddlers. The Outstanding Bravery award went to Nicola Hill who donated a kidney to save the life of her husband Adrian. She now raises money for the British Kidney Patient Association.