Blown away by those inspiring Urban Heroes

KNOCKIN’ ABOUT: SOMETIMES, just sometimes, you arrive at an event and are simply blown away by what you see, what you are part of, what is going on around you.

Take the Urban Heroes Awards at the Palace Hotel, Manchester, to which I was invited by Gordon Haynes, who owns and operates three local businesses and owns two mills in Waterhead, a third in Chadderton, a fourth in Mills Hill and his fifth, the impressively-refurbished Earl Mill at Hathershaw.

He and his wife Denise have been involved in the awards for the past three years, sponsoring through their Safe Records Management division.

The dinner is free, including four courses, wine and entertainment, paid for by sponsors.

We guests then put money or pledges into envelopes and all the proceeds support The Message, the Greater Manchester charity which organises the awards. There were around 750 of us at the dinner, including a good few folk from Oldham.

Steve and Michelle Greenwood and (no relation as far as I am aware) John Greenwood and his wife, Norman Stoller and Susan Wildman, who used to be the communications manager at Oldham Council, to name but those I bumped into.

The evening raised a staggering £140,000. If there were 750 people in the room as they announced, then that’s an average of £186 per person.

Now that’s what I call fund-raising.

Andy Hawthorne is the chief executive and founder of The Message Trust, an award-winning Christian charity working to improve the lives of young people in Manchester.

Working in schools, local communities and prisons, the trust is in contact with around 100,000 young people across Greater Manchester each year.

In the past 15 years, the workers have developed a knack for being able to get through to the hardest-to-reach young people, with the aim of bringing hope, providing opportunities and releasing potential.

The Urban Heroes Awards evening is a stunning celebration of these young people who have changed around their lives.

Gordon was on stage presenting The Courage Award to a young boy with cancer who has displayed immense bravery in taking on the disease.

A couple of Oldhamers — Neil and Lydia Newberry, from Limeside — received The Champion Award for their work in the community.

It was touching, inspiring stuff and made me immensely proud to be from Oldham.