Make a Difference Awards to recognise Sussex and Surrey heroes

Community heroes across Sussex and Surrey are set to be honoured at a BBC awards ceremony.

The 14th annual BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey Make a Difference Awards are set to take place on Monday night at Lingfield Park Racecourse in Surrey.

Hundreds of nominees were put forward by local people in eight categories, and after an initial round of judging to shortlist four finalists in each, local celebrities and dignitaries have selected overall winners.

The categories are: Volunteer, Young Hero, Great Neighbour, Active, Animal, Green, Fundraiser and Community Group.

One of the first round judges, local community leader Patrick Coffey, said: “The real difficulty we have in producing a shortlist [is that] everyone nominated is a hero, making such a difference in society.”

The busy Bexhill 100 Motoring Club have been nominated for a Fundraiser award to be judged by TV presenter and survivalist Ray Mears.

In August alone, it raised £24,000 for four local charities – Bexhill Heritage, Bexhill Beach Gardens, Association of Carers, and the Hastings RNLI.

Worthing stalwart Jeanie Dickinson is among the contenders for the Active award – a new category designed for those who have used physical activity or sport to improve lives.

Mrs Dickinson spent decades building the Phoenix Over 50s club to provide sport and community to older people in the town.

The club started with just 15 members and now has more than 400.

The final round judge for this category is gold medal-winning Olympian Sally Gunnell OBE.

Over in Surrey, Wendy Tanqueray, 85, has been nominated in the Great Neighbour category, having been recognised for her efforts to make the Esher neighbourhood a better place to live.

Each day, Mrs Tanqueray spends two to three hours picking litter in the town, including discarded rubbish, nitrous oxide canisters and on one occasion, a pair of handcuffs.

She is also very active at her local church and established a group to visit people in need of support.

She said: “Loneliness is a real problem and we should do something.”

Men’s Pit Stop and Andy’s Man Club are shortlisted in the Community Group category for supporting men in Surrey struggling with their mental health.

Blair Parrott told BBC Radio Surrey he founded the groups after losing a colleague to suicide.

His over-arching message was that “there is always hope, there is always someone to talk to who has been there and won’t judge”.

Awards ceremony host, BBC Radio Sussex Breakfast presenter Danny Pike, said he was looking forward to an “uplifting evening… focusing on the people who do so much to make where we live great.”

He added: “As the host, it’s a privilege to meet them up on stage as they receive their awards.”

BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey will have interviews and a flavour of the evening on Tuesday morning and afternoon.