A NEW DAWN FOR SOCIAL ENTERPRISE IN LANCASHIRE

Lancashire has a new Champion of Social Enterprise in the form of recycling guru Dawn Welham.

The annual Selnet Enterprise In Society awards sees dozens of social enterprises from across the county competing in a host of categories and the highlight of the night is the announcement of our Social Enterprise Champion – the person who, in the judges view, has done the most to promote our sector in the last 12 months.

This year’s winner, Dawn, from Lancashire Community Recycling Network through her role at Leyland-based waste giants Global Renewables is able to link together a range of the county’s social enterprises that are involved in recycling.

The awards ceremony, staged at the impressive De Vere Hotel in Blackpool with more than 250 guests, was a good night for the community sector on the Fylde coast.

Blackpool-based rehabilitation centre, Spiral Health community interest company (cic) won Social Enterprise of the Year, a community initiative which involves Lancashire Police called Jobs, Friends and Houses cic won Start Up Social Enterprise of the Year and a new category this year, to highlight the role of business advisers, was scooped by Janet Fraser who is based in Lytham.

Social Enterprise – where the profits go back into the social good rather than to the directors – is thriving in Lancashire and its work is spearheaded by the Social Enterprise Lancashire Network, Selnet. Its chief executive, Liz Tapner, said: 

“The Selnet Enterprise In Society awards are like no other. Every year, we see fantastic examples of ways in which social businesses are making a real difference to people’s lives in Lancashire.

Take the Enabling Ability award for example. Community Gateway Volunteer Drivers in Preston started with just one vehicle and now there is a fleet of cars out and about helping to break down people’s isolation.

We were also able to reward the excellent partnership between Lancashire County Council, the Care Foundation Trust and Advocacy Focus where the third sector is playing a key role in helping the public sector.

Other worthy winners on the night were Total Reuse from Skelmersdale, Diane Price and Integrate Preston and Chorley for their Woodhouse initiative.

This is now the fifth year of the awards, we had the highest amount of entries yet and the largest number of guests at the ceremony so I am very proud.”

The full list of winners and highly commended reads as follows:

Start-up Social Enterprise of the Year
Winner: Jobs, Friends and Houses CIC (Blackpool based)

Jobs, Friends and Houses CIC does what it says on the tin! We provide meaningful employment with training and qualifications, stable accommodation and positive peer support for individuals who were once in drug addiction or alcohol dependency. We enable them to sustain abstinent recovery. We inspire current individuals in addiction to aspire to become abstinent.  

Highly Commended: Dig In (NW) CIC (Preston based)

Small Social Enterprise of the Year
Winner: Total Reuse CIC (Skelmersdale based)

Total Reuse is a community interest company based in West Lancashire but operating throughout the North West. It exists to find alternative uses for the things people throw away by finding them a new home or repairing, restoring, refurbishing or remanufacturing them into new products. It’s about making a difference to the environment and improving the health and wellbeing of the individuals and communities with whom it comes into contact. It gives people a choice: be part of the solution, rather than the problem.

Highly Commended: Spring into Action CIC (Pennine Lancashire based)

Enabling Ability Award
Winner: Community Gateway Volunteer Drivers (Preston based)

Community Gateway Association’s Gateway Tenants Committee decided a community minibus were a must for this new company. In 2006 staff were tasked with sourcing a vehicle that could be used for promotional purposes to transporting our local residents including those with disabilities.  The first vehicle was delivered to CGA in Aug 2007, after getting off to a very slow start, which saw the minibus being used mainly for company business. By the start of 2007 that had changed with lots of community use, which has only grown since this time.

Highly Commended: Peter Cousins (Jnr) (Skelmersdale based)

Unsung Hero
Winner: Diane Price

Diane’s vision is a society where all children and young people with disabilities are able to realise their goals and aspirations, with a right to community inclusive activities and services which supports them and their families.
Diane says “It is about working together; it takes a bit from everyone to make it work. Tiny steps BIG differences”

Highly Commended: Ben Mathew (Blackpool based with UR Potential)

Business Adviser Of The Year
Winner: Janet Fraser (Lytham based)

Janet’s business background in setting up and running two successful small businesses in the 80’s and 00’s and in management roles in the public sector responsible for business development and innovation led her to become a business adviser. She is a CMI qualified social enterprise business adviser.

Highly Commended: Tony Carr (Blackpool based)

Most Effective Collaboration
Winner: Advocacy Focus, LCC & Lancs. Care Foundation Trust

Lead commissioners LCC and LCFT, together with Advocacy Focus has successfully led the establishment of an opt out system to maximise benefit for clients subject to the Mental Health Act.  The partnership has been awarded an LGC Innovation in Commissioning Award in 2014 and is looking to develop a national toolkit  to enable other authorities to replicate the service.

Highly Commended: Emmaus Preston

Environmental Champion of the Year
Winner: The Woodhouse (Integrate Preston & Chorley Ltd)

The woodhouse is a social enterprise run and managed by Integrate (Preston & Chorley) Ltd.
It offers a wood recycling service to the construction industry and has a wood resource centre from which sales are made, it is open to everyone.
Landfilling biodegradable waste contributes to the emission of greenhouse gasses, is environmentally, socially and economically unsustainable. By diverting this waste from landfill we are removing it from the waste network and ensuring reuse and recycling instead of disposal, helping construction companies in reducing their environmental impacts.

Highly Commended: Total Reuse CIC

Social Enterprise Of The Year
Winner: Spiral Health CIC (Blackpool based)

Spiral Health provides the people of Lancashire and the Fylde Coast with two centres of excellence for rehabilitation, a stepping stone between hospital and home, where patients recover from accidents, illness or major surgery.
We help people ‘Get back upon their feet’

Lancashire’s Social Enterprise Champion 2014

Winner: Dawn Welham (LCRN)

Dawn has coordinated the Lancashire Community Recycling Network for 6 years. She facilitates essential bi-annual networking events for members, is a vital source of current and legislative information, marketing and publicity support, promotion online/via social media, fundraising and contract tendering expertise.

She works directly on projects that prevent resources being landfilled, provide training and employment for marginalised people and help secure sustainable revenue.

More photo’s will be added to this article in due course. For now the full photo album is available at :

www.dropbox.com/sh/zijdm33y1tzadxk/AADHbKbnZLVZUQlpsFBZmGnca

Selnet would like to thank everybody involved for making the 2014 Awards our best one yet!

We hope to see you again next year 🙂

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