Pride of St Helens Awards 2024 - nominees for Community Business Hero

In Thursday's Star (November 14 edition, in shops now) we published a 16-page supplement profiling each of the shortlisted nominees for this year's ceremony.

Throughout this week ahead of the event at the Totally Wicked Stadium, we will be sharing our categories of nominees with you.

Here are your nominees for Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group Pride of St Helens Awards - Community Business Hero Award, sponsored by Torus.

Stephen Baines

Stephen Baines (left) (Image: Submitted)

FEELING that St Helens town centre was missing a community centre that provided a wide range of services, Stephen Baines launched the Wonderland Community Centre on Reflection Court in 2020.

Aiming to bring the community together and help in whatever way they can, Wonderland’s wide range of services have included mental health and benefits support, wellbeing activities, after school clubs, a sensory room, as well as a café and foodbank.

After suffering with mental health issues and struggling to find adequate help, Stephen also felt it was very important to provide a place where people feel welcome and part of a community, and one that fills the gaps for people who are struggling to find support or are on long waiting lists.

Realising how many people were in need of support during the pandemic, Wonderland’s remit quickly expanded after its launch and it has also drafted in the help of other organisations to offer further help.

Over the years, this has included the No Duff UK charity, which helps veterans and emergency service workers with mental health support, Ever Evolving, which provides day care provision for adults with learning difficulties the Come Together Hub, which helps with mental health, addiction, and homelessness, and many more.

The centre has also opened on Christmas Day, with an army of volunteers picking up residents and cooking meals for people who are alone at Christmas.

Eddie and Helen Hoffman

Helen inside the family jewellers with husband Eddie and his sons Ryan and Zack (Image: Submitted)

A WELL-KNOWN couple in St Helens, Eddie and Helen Hoffman have supported the town through their various business projects, such as the family business, Louis Williams Jewellers, which was launched along Ormskirk Street back in 2016.

Helen has also been known as a trusted barber at Watson & Co in Sutton, and more recently launched her first business, The House of Sparkle, which offers a wide range of “high quality and luxury jewellery at affordable prices”.

The couple are also well known for their support of other local businesses in St Helens, as they are continually vocal about the “amazing” business community in our town and the necessity for customers to “use it or lose it”.

The pair have also helped to organise Christmas markets to encourage people into the town centre and have repeatedly organised a festive toy appeal, which has delivered thousands of donated gifts to struggling families in order to bring a smile to children’s faces on Christmas Day.

Speaking previously to the Star about their festive project, Helen said: “We always get so much support from the community and our customers, so this is just something we wanted to do to give something back.”

Simon Hood

Simon Hood (Image: Submitted)

SIMON Hood is an executive director of one of the UK’s premier international moving companies which was awarded the first ever King’s Award for Enterprise this year in recognition of outstanding service in international trade.

Founded in 1884 by Mary Mason with just a horse and cart, John Mason International initially delivered coal across the city of Liverpool. Today, John Mason International moves more than 10,000 people each year to destinations such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the USA, and the Middle East.

In 2021, St Helens resident Simon acquired John Mason International via a management buy-out in 2021, and he has steered the company to remarkable financial growth amid global challenges.

With a similar rags-to-riches story to the company’s founder, Simon grew up facing financial hardships and helped his mother pick potatoes to buy school shoes for his older brothers after his father’s death at the age of five.

Despite these challenges and a speech impediment that required special education, Simon’s resilience and vision have enabled him to thrive in business, and under his leaership, John Mason’s turnover and overseas sales have more than doubled in just three years.

With His Majesty the King awarding Simon the award in July, it places John Mason International among a select group of enterprises that have received this royal recognition since the inception of the awards in 1965.