PRIDE OF ST HELENS 2022: Pride of Place shortlist

You voted, the judges counted and here are our shortlisted nominees for the Pride of Place Award.

Ahead of the awards next Friday, we will be sharing profiles on each category of the awards highlighting each of the nominees.

Portico Vine

Portico Vine Community Rugby League Club know more than most about engaging the local community.

And after three long years of hard work, Portico Vine was finally able to open the doors to its new clubhouse in 2022.

The plans, long in the running, finally came to fruition.

Mark Hobin, club chairman, has previously said it has been the “dream” of many Portico Vine volunteers to see its young players have access to better facilities.

“All they’ve ever asked for is better facilities because they were so rundown – we had kids stood outside freezing after finishing games in winter, it was heart-breaking.”

The club secured funding to make the renovation happen and has also this year hosted Rugby League World Cup events to promote the tournament.

Also, with Tonga based in the town for this autumn’s tournament, the club held a Tongan Day which saw junior Portico dies in action and members of the Tonga World Cup team and coach Kristian Woolf attend the club.

Portico Vine’s nomination read: “I’ve nominated our club, our club has for many years had many plans in the past. Dreams have eventually become reality and we have a clubhouse the children can sit and have food after games. Plus it is there for all the local community to use.”

North West Miners Heritage Association

The North West Miners Heritage Association has been involved in engaging with the community.

Over the past five years, the association has been working to restore community spirit in the area.

The association was set up thanks to the efforts of Jim Housley, Paul Gerrard, Ian Henderson, Carol Hassan and Paul Hewitt.

Starting life as the Sutton Manor Miners Association, it has changed its name and incorporates a wider area. It has a Facebook group which consists of more than 1,700 members.

The association does much of its work in Sutton Manor and other areas in St Helens, including Parr.

Its regular activities include Remembrance displays, an Easter Eggs hunt at The Dream, litter picks, foodbanks, heritage walks, a dementia café at Saints, among others.

The group also had a couple of banners made to “help bring the community together”.

Jim, a former worker at Sutton Manor, whose dad and granddad, worked underground, said the group undertakes mostly “community” work, adding its mission is about “getting the community spirit back to what it was” in the former mining areas.

The Friends of St Helens Cemetery

The Friends of St Helens Cemetery have been dedicated volunteers to help with the upkeep of the cemetery grounds since starting in 2006.

Their work has included organising a year-round flower delivery service, maintaining the PITY11 children’s memorial garden, public grave headstones, and building a summer house ‘to sit and rest awhile in’.

The group has also installed the Miss Fairisle post-box to help children (and adults) deal with bereavement, done heritage walking tours, Christmas Wreath making, Christmas Tree Service of Remembrance, Mothers & Father Day services, grave ownership research service, dealt with hundreds of grave location enquiries and worked in partnership with Veterans of the Saints Community Foundation.

Earlier this year, the Friends of St Helens Cemetery, were given the Queen’s Award for voluntary service.

This is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an M.B.E. The Queens Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding local volunteer groups to benefit their communities. In addition two volunteers from the Friends of St Helens Cemetery will attend a garden party in Buckingham Palace.

Marlene Downey, of the Friends of St Helens Cemetery, described the award as “a great honour".