Sharon Blair, from the Holy Trinity Church in Combe Down, has been named as one of the six winners of the national ‘Little Deeds, Big Difference’ competition.
The competition, which celebrates and recognises the work of church volunteers across the UK, was run by specialist insurer Ecclesiastical.
Ecclesiastical received more than 300 nominations from across the country. Each of the six winners will receive a prize of £2,000 for their church, with one lucky winner taking home the £10,000 grand prize.
Sharon was nominated for the competition for the impact she has had on the church congregation.
Since 1992, she has worked tirelessly to make the church more welcoming to families by introducing a family service.
Building on this, Sharon has also set up a number of thriving children’s groups and activities to bring new families to Holy Trinity.
Sarah Nedel, PA to the local vicar, who nominated Sharon, said: “Our church is very different from the one Sharon arrived at in 1992.
“She has a special gift with people and despite her numerous church roles – running a toddler group, leading the ‘Family Matters’ scheme and running the annual community event – she always has time to listen to people. She is the sort of person that people trust.
“She listens and gives wise advice, always respecting the person and their situation.”
Michael Angell, Church Operations Director and one of the judges, commented: “Given the quality and number of nominations we received, the judging process was extremely difficult.
“Every single entry was worthy of recognition and deserving of a prize, but our six winners really stood out and have made an outstanding contribution to their local communities.
“I would like to congratulate the six winners and everybody who has been nominated. It was incredibly heart-warming to receive so many nominations for volunteers who have played such a crucial role in the running of their churches.
“They have led volunteering efforts with the wider community and we look forward to revealing the grand prize winner in November.”
The six winners were chosen by a panel of judges and will attend the winner’s lunch on 1st November, where the efforts of each nominee will be recognised and the winner of the £10,000 prize will be revealed.
Michael added: “The ‘Little Deeds, Big Difference’ competition really has revealed the thousands of little deeds carried out by church volunteers every day that make a big difference to so many, in all sorts of communities.
“Churches play an important role in local communities and church volunteers support a wide variety of activities and people every single day.
“This support is becoming increasingly important, particularly where other community resources are closing or have had to reduce the services on offer.
“We hope that the competition has helped raise the profile of the valuable work that church volunteers undertake in their communities and, that the prize money will go some way to helping support the many and varied activities they run.”
To find out more about this year’s competition, visit: www.ecclesiastical.com/churchcomp.