The Stronger Together Awards
Healthwatch Lancashire were recently a proud sponsor of The Stronger Together Awards held by the Lancashire Disability Partnerships Board in collaboration with People First Independent Advocacy.
The award ceremony was held at Barton Manor Hotel on September 24th to celebrate the individuals who make people stronger. The day shone a light on the people, groups and organisations who are working to make a different in the lives of people with a learning disability through promoting collaboration, advocacy and inclusive practices.
The event was hosted by Stephen Smith (Lancashire Self-Advocacy), Becky Gammon, James Hughes (Self Advocacy Team Leader – Lancashire) and Maria Lord (Self Advocacy and Community Worker).
Guests were welcomed via red carpet to the event and directed upstairs for networking and a welcome drink before taking their seats in the event hall. We were introduced to to the afternoon by the passionate hosts before we listened to presentations from the Lancashire Learning Disability Board, their Health Sub-Group and Friends & Relationships Sub-Group.
This was followed by a presentation from David Blacklock, CEO at People First and Linda who both co-chair the Lancashire Learning Disability Board.
During the awards ceremony, Coronation Street actor Liam Bairstow delivered an inspirational presentation talking about his acting journey and delivering an important message that anything is possible if you put your mind to it!
Then it was time to move onto the awards, each category was full of incredible, and inspiring nominations but the winners are below;
✨Outstanding Partnership Award – Charlotte Hammond
✨Inclusive Employer Award – Sara Danson, Primark
✨Friends and Relationships Subgroup Award – Tania Cockcroft, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals
✨Health Subgroup Award – Sue Sharples, U-Knight Group
✨Impact Award – Accessibility Project Team, LCC Customer Access Service
✨Impact Award – Crsytal Small
✨Impact Award – Stephen Haywood and Sue Sharples, U-Night Group
✨Self-Advocacy Central Lancashire Award – Becky Gammon
✨Self-Advocacy Award East Lancashire – Linda Stewart
✨Self-Advocacy Award North Lancashire – Sarah McDermott
The event was truly inspiring, and hearing from not only the groups, but individual recipients of the awards was a really amazing insight into all of the amazing work going on across Lancashire to make our county more inclusive for individuals with learning disabilities.