Heathcoat Fabrics were again delighted to support the Mid Devon Gazette Community Awards, hosted by DevonLive. This annual event gives the opportunity to celebrate and give recognition to the heroes of the community. A gala was held at the Tiverton Hotel on Thursday 22nd June and Judi Spiers was one of the guest presenters alongside Patrick Phelvin, editor of DevonLive.
Heathcoat Fabrics had the pleasure of presenting the award for Mid Devon Young Hero of the Year. The first nominee for the award was Bethany Moakes, ages 11, who encouraged her primary school to hold a non-uniform day to raise money for those suffering in third world countries after watching harrowing footage on the news. Her head teacher claimed he was so impressed that he couldn’t possibly turn it down, and the school managed to raise £350 which was later donated to the Famine Relief Awareness Cause.
Emilia Cuthbertson, aged 6, demonstrated that Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) does not stop her from enjoying herself. The syndrome effects the connective tissue and causes fragile skin that can be easily split. Despite this, Emilia has been taking part in martial arts classes and recently won an award for outstanding achievement. Both the heart-warming stories made the decision too difficult for the judges who decided to award them joint winners which proved overwhelmingly popular with the audience.
An unexpected surpise was to meet our XTEX development and Quality manager, Neil Dennis-Purves. Neil was attending as a nominee in the Environmental Hero category for his work with the Tiverton Repair Cafe. The Repair Cafe recycle items that would otherwise be thrown out to landfill and raises cash for other charities by selling them on. The Repair Cafe won the award and Neil accepted on their behalf.
Patrick Phelvin said he was struck by the number of nominees who saw the need for a service and then did something about it. He went on to say that Mid Devon is truly a lovely place to live, made more so by the people who put their own time and effort into making something happen for the benefit of others.