We should all take a bow

Last Thursday night the Cheshire Community Action Awards night proved to be a triumph for Audlem and, indeed, Hankelow.

These awards cover all of Cheshire yet Audlem came away with four major awards and Hankelow, outright winner two years ago, picked up another deserved prize.

Audlem's success in the Community Spirit award was particularly welcome this year. If all the local people who had contributed to Audlem's claim to be very special had been able to step on to the stage to receive the accolade, there wouldn't have been a stage large enough to accommodate them in the whole of the county.

We have won the Community Spirit award before but this year's success was different. Few villages in the land could have achieved what Audlem had in the past year: the successful raising of over £100,000 to help one of their own by over a thousand people getting together to sing 'Amazing Grace' for the Cliffe family's 'Mend our Mum' campaign.

The video, so professionally produced by exclusively local talent, went viral, on regional, national and international TV and the money poured in, allowing, some months later, Berni Cliffe to receive treatment for her rare cancer in London and Houston, Texas, from where she has returned very recently after a lengthy and very testing stay.

This amazing display of community spirit was on top of all the hard work, commitment and sheer determination that goes into making Audlem such a special place in which to live. Only yesterday, and the work will continue today, saw people giving up their weekend to dig out and replace all the village planting that has been such a delight throughout the year.

Then there are all the community groups such as ADAS, ASET, ADCA, the Festival team that make so many things happen plus revived groups like the Youth Club that have put in so much effort to relaunch this past year. And there are the many social groups like the W.I., The Embroiderers' Guild, Probus, church groups and sports organisations appealing to all ages and interests. It's impossible to list them all here but they all play a vital social role.

This past year also saw the launch of the Wheelyboat to give disabled groups a trip on the canal while other organisations like the Charity Shop and Audlem Lass raise many thousands for a range of charities.

A few years ago I had the good fortune to help judge the Calor Village of the Year competition – the same one that Audlem was successful in back in 2005 – and visited villages across three regions of England: the Midlands, South East and South West. There was so much going on in many of them but nowhere, seriously, could touch Audlem for the sheer number of festivals and events and not a single village (and many were much larger than Audlem) had anything like the musical, artistic and organisational talent we are so lucky to enjoy.

I was also delighted, for several reasons, that AudlemOnline won the Community Website of the Year award again. Firstly, it was our strongest ever entry to this competition this year because, not only had we played our part in broadcasting the Amazing Grace video, but we could talk about a real innovation which we suspect is a first for any village.

The seven electronic screens installed in the post office, newsagents, shops, pubs and the marina is not an 'off-the-shelf' product but a system dreamt up and designed by two members of the AudlemOnline webteam. It means that events and announcements are broadcast more widely and can reach members of the community that may not be regular readers of the website.

A further reason for satisfaction with the website's success was that the newest member of the webteam, Alvar Jones (pictured here), was in Ellesmere Port on Thursday night to receive the award. As some may know, I haven't been able to devote as much time as I would like to the website in recent weeks, a situation that will continue for a time yet. Alvar has stepped up to the plate, has edited the website over lengthy periods whenever needed, and has done a sterling job. Click on Photo to see correct perspective.

On top of that, he has completely overhauled the photographic galleries – a massive task – focussing on the real quality shots and also meaning that anyone needing photographs for publications etc should always be able to find and retrieve suitable photographs in a high resolution.

All in all, last Thursday was a real triumph for Audlem and Hankelow and one in which we can all be very proud. Let's hope, with all the hard work going into new projects, notably the Audlem Public Hall Annexe, next year will see even more happening in this very special corner of Cheshire.

But, in the meantime, let's all take a bow and enjoy the recognition.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.