Press Release

SPORTING STAR COLIN BOWS TO EVERYDAY WINNERS

3 November 2006

POPULAR sporting legend Colin Jackson CBE is preparing to be bowled 
over by the stunning achievements of people who have overcome 
everyday hurdles to transform their lives.

The record-shattering hurdler will meet remarkable people from all 
over the country when he congratulates the winners of national 
charity Shaw Trust’s annual STAR Awards, at London’s Café Royal on 
November 7.

The annual awards spotlight the outstanding achievements of some of 
the clients and supporters of Shaw Trust, which provides training and 
work opportunities to people disadvantaged in the labour market due 
to disability, ill health, or social circumstances.

“I’ve negotiated a fair few hurdles in my time, but they’re dwarfed 
by the challenges some of these people face all day, every day,” says 
Colin, 39, whose glittering career includes three World Records, plus 
seven European, eight Commonwealth and nine UK records at 110m hurdles.

“I’m delighted to help Shaw Trust to honour their achievements,” adds 
the man heralded as  arguably the greatest athlete in British 
Athletics, and who is proving to be just as popular as a TV star and 
broadcaster.

Fifty people and organisations - ranging from big companies, who have 
opened doors to clients, to individual super-achievers - have been 
shortlisted for the STAR Awards and invited to the November 7 event.

The winners, whose names are being kept strictly under wraps until 
the big day, have been chosen by a judging panel that included two of 
last year’s STAR winners. Southend-on-Sea boss Jo Cox was named 2005 
Workplace Mentor of the year, and Aberyswyth’s own Super Man Richard 
Denyer was lauded in the Individual Achievements’ category with the 
Pushing the Boundaries Award.

Jo, a Credit Control Manager with Countrywide Property Management, 
was nominated by one of her staff, Janet Swanton, who has Cerebral 
Palsy. Janet said: “Jo is inspirational. She has transformed my 
working life. She doesn’t see the handicap first, but the person 
beyond.”

Jo said she was thrilled enough to be nominated last year, let alone 
to win, and she was chuffed to bits to be asked back to judge this 
year’s winners. “I was over the moon, and very honoured,” she says.

“It was a very emotional experience, to study so many amazing and 
inspiring stories. it was so hard to pick out winners, but I know 
myself that you feel very special even to be shortlisted.”

Richard Denyer, who was nominated for his superhuman efforts to 
rebuild his life after a stroke and a horrific motorbike crash, 
agrees wholeheartedly. “I was so thrilled to be asked to join the 
judging panel. I felt the same pleasure that I did when Pat Cash 
announced I’d won the award last year... and I sat there, gobsmacked, 
unable to move!

“The judging has been such a lovely, uplifting thing to be part of. 
Just reading the stories of this year’s nominees is so inspiring. 
Their experiences have given me new hope and strength and invigorated 
my determination,” adds Richard, who confounded doctors who said he’d 
never walk again after the crash, and still crams his days full with 
volunteer work, gardening, sailing and writing his book ‘My Stroke of 
Luck’.

The November 7 Awards will name 11 winners, at the glittering 
ceremony at the Café Royal

“These are our Oscars, when we get the chance to publicly recognise 
the wonderful achievements of some of the people we have worked with 
over the year, and we are delighted that Colin Jackson, whose 
sporting achievements have touched millions of people’s lives, will 
be with us,” says Shaw Trust Chief Executive Ian Charlesworth.

“The event turns our short-listed nominees into stars for the day, 
but really, like all of our clients who break down the barriers to 
progress and the organisations and individuals who help them to do 
that, they are stars all year round.

“They are all truly inspirational, and their achievements show quite 
clearly what can be done, with the right support. Hopefully people 
will read or hear about their stories and think ‘if they can do it, 
we can too’.”

* WE can provide photographs of Jo Cox and Richard Denyer from last 
year’s STAR Awards.

* IF you would like to know more about any of the nominees, please 
contact us (contact details are in Notes to Editors). We will alert 
you after November 7 if there are any winners in your area.

 

THE SHORTLISTED STAR AWARDS NOMINEES IN FULL

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT (from three Shaw Trust services);

EMPLOYMENT: Melanie Clay (Lincolnshire); Eric Jewitt (Stockton on 
Tees); Caroline McCafferty (Salisbury); Graham Pilcher (Southampton); 
Craig Potter (Whitstable, Kent); Michael Shields (Kent).

WORK, SKILLS & INDEPENDENCE: Michael Arnold (Stockton on Tees); 
Caroline+Amy Davies (Swansea); Katherine Shurlock (Colchester);  Mark 
Wootten (Bristol); Adam Wright (Lincolnshire); Saima Zeb (Blackburn).

YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICES: Mark Baggley (Lincolnshire); Luke Ferguson 
(Birmingham); Keith Parnell (Teesside).

EMPLOYER (OVER 250 STAFF): ASDA (Doncaster & Stockton on Tees); City 
Facilities Management (Southport); HBOS (Sheffield & Leeds); Tesco 
(Herfordshire & Glasgow).

EMPLOYER (UNDER 250): Allison Homes (Lincolnshire); Fossitt and 
Thorne (Lincolnshire); Middlesbrough Borough Council; Parkmore Hotel 
(Stockton on Tees).

PARTNER ORGANISATION:  DHP Scotland (Glasgow); Job Centre+ 
(Pembrokeshire); Lomond Training (Falkirk); Mental Health Campaign 
Supporters (team nomination for BT Group; BUPA; GlaxoSmithKline; 
HSBC; Merril Lynch; Unum Provident; Employers Forum on Disability; 
Business in the Community); West Midlands Police.

WORKPLACE MENTOR: Adrian Beaumont (Merseyside Police); Paula Clark 
(Oldrids Stores, Lincolnshire); Susan Hunt (Parkmore Hotel, Stockton 
on Tees); Rachel Rowett (Blackfriars Arts Centre, Lincolnshire); 
Phillip Anthony Wickes (Gowerings (Ford), Basingstoke); Steve Wymer 
(Fantasy Island (Lincolnshire).

SHAW TRUST EMPLOYEE: Ann McGrane (Doncaster); Phill Lucas (Croydon); 
Louise Pilgrim (Hampshire); Victoria Ann Thomas (Neath); Beverley 
Wood (London).

VOLUNTEER: Carol Appleby (St Helens); Chay Dunning (Hertfordshire); 
Eric Gill (St Helens); Janice Roselynn (Suffolk).