Ellie is a young lady who has faced many battles during her life. Ellie was diagnosed with Aspergers at 6yrs old, despite this she managed mainstream education and has gone on to secure herself an apprenticeship, proving she is an asset to her employer. Ellie has achieved all of this while supporting her beautiful Mum who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. As if these issues weren’t difficult enough, Ellie did a sponsored skydive to raise much needed funds. The pivotal moment that prompted me to nominate Ellie was after losing her darling Mum, she was the first person who spoke at her funeral. It must have taken tremendous courage for Ellie to do this, aside the emotion, it was a packed service. I have nothing but admiration for all that Ellie has achieved not only this year, but in her life so far, and I’ve no doubt she will carry on and continue to make her Mum proud.

Dee is a phenomenal woman who cares so much about others; she has put her life on hold to care and help for her family and community. Dee looks after her 76 year old disabled husband, her 89 year old mother and her grandchildren. She also helps out at the St. Michael’s Church. She is an angel in disguise, always giving and dedicated to ensuring everyone is looked after before herself. Her days are filled with caring for her double amputee husband (taking him to hospital appointments, ensuring he is fed and bathed and answering to his call) as well as caring for her elderly mother who requires assistance bathing, doctors’ appointments, medication and regular care. Dee also drops and fetches her grandchildren from school, looking after them and ensuring that they are well cared for. All of this while she looks after the house, cooking, cleaning and always making others fell special. She rarely has time for herself and often not being well herself, she continues to persevere to support others. Dee deserves to be recognised for her selflessness and continued love and care she has for her family and community.

She has done an amazing job as coach for Little Stoke Primary School football team. She has spent her own time learning to be a coach and finding out the best coaching courses. She supports all abilities to play the game. There is now the opportunity for children in the school to play games they would never have done previously as she as bought in a multi sports after school club. The differences in the schools position with regards to sports and the football team is proof of her ability as a coach.

Two local boys, Charlie Wheeler and Senna Huke (aka The Marathon Boys) recently did a full 42 kilometre marathon run to help raise money for their school, Wheatfield Primary School. They ran 3 times a week for a full month, in all weathers (hail storm included!) and raised almost £1000!

They are only 7 and 8 years old! Charlie had the idea initially and after asking friends to join him, the only person who said yes was Senna. Everyone else said it was too hard! But the boys didn’t give up! They worked out the routes and the distances and wrote notes to each other about how they would do it and on what days. I’ve never known two young people with such ambition.

They’ve been on Bradley Stoke Radio, BBC Radio and featured in the Bristol Post!

They are already planning their next fundraising challenge for next year.

It would be amazing to recognise their achievement at such a young age and encourage them to continue their good work.

This nomination is for my Mum and Dad, I am 43 now and they both still do so much for me and my family. Their entire lives revolve around my sister and I, our husbands and children. My Dad has a vast skill set: painter, decorator, plumber, electrician, carpet layer, alarm fitter, toy fixer and was a firefighter before he retired. Meanwhile, my Mum provides childcare, baking school costumes, additional school homework, provides emotional support gardening help, sexing, organises family get togethers and does amazing Sunday dinners. I truly feel that they both go far beyond what the ‘average’ parent does, I’ll give you a few examples:

My Mum does school runs every day of the week while we work. She spent four months chasing a refund for some boots she brought me that had worn out after less than a year, when my daughter went gluten free my mum spent hours baking up recipes so that she didn’t go without nice treats. She dropped everything to support me when I struggled with stress and minor mental health issues. My mum has retired now, having been a teaching assistant, she still volunteers at a local school every week and she often babysits for her neighbour’s children.

My children know my dad as ‘Pop’ll fix it’ because he always does. When we were young he built a two storey extension so that me and my sister would have a room each. Now an adult, I have moved house four times, for each new house my Dad has decorated, fixed major and minor leaks or fitted alarms, or doors, or kitchen units and so far he has fitted 5 new bathrooms!

If we ever mention being a little short of money, a little something arrives into our account.

I could go on and on about my parents, always putting their family before everything. We all feel so privileged, loved, secure, supported and that we are making them proud. The hours and days they spend helping their daughters are countless, please recognise them as they are wonderful and words simply don’t do justice for all the things that they do.

Paige Josham is a 26 year old mother of two, who has dedicated her time and effort into helping other families in and around Bristol by setting up a Facebook group called ‘Mama’s swaps and freebies Bristol’ which allows families to post free available items that they have, which can be then passed on to a family in need. She has helped many families who have been taken into emergency refuge, last minute social care situations or even families who struggle daily with living below the poverty line. One of these situations happened recently, where she had an urgent help plea from a woman who had been given the care of a 5 week old baby girl whose mother had been taken to hospital after a domestic violence case, the child had nothing but the clothes on her back and a few spare nappies to see her through the night. Thankfully due to the sheer number of Mothers and families who are on the page as members, Paige was able to post an urgent request and get hold of the bare necessities that the baby would need to see her through the next few days until the guardian would know when the child would go back into the mothers care. I feel it is so important that you know what Paige is doing for the families of Bristol, with over 2.7k members and growing all the time, she has such a huge impact on the families who are struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families with little to no support. Paige uses all of her free time, to run and even help pick up items and deliver them herself when families are in need but they cannot collect themselves. She has been a drop off point for others, when their situation hasn’t allowed their address to be known to others for their personal safety and police protection. You should be aware of the good people in your community, and especially Paige who is going above and beyond, to help others even when she has her own family support and is trying to further her education by going back to college in September to see if she can take herself further into helping others.

Not only is she kind, caring, totally amazing with the kids and so good at her job, but she has gone over and above. She teaches in Year 2 at Holy Family School and this week the children are taking their SATS (at the time of nominations), except they have no idea that they are taking their SATS, they think they are on a Special Agent Training course. They, of course, have been working hard but Miss Standing has gone out of her way to help them learn and achieve the best that can, all while ‘training’ as special agents. At the end of their ‘training’ they will ALL qualify and receive their own badges and certificates, “ssshhhh… don’t tell the grown-ups as it’s so secret”. Most of the kids are excited and have no idea what they are really doing, she has gone out of her way to take the pressure away from them as well as their parents, these six and seven year old are just having fun, genius!