A celebration of the people and organisations that pursue diversity, equality and inclusion will be held this week.
Twenty-one nominees in seven categories will find out on Saturday who will be taking home a Cumbria Diversity Award at a ceremony in Carlisle.
Now in their sixth year, the event is organised by Ben Vollans.
He said: “The awards were set up to actually provide some recognition for the work that people in Cumbria do in the pursuit of equality, diversity and inclusion within the county. For six years I ran Outreach Cumbria and worked alongside many of these people who just got on with their work and didn’t ever expect a thank you, so I wanted to change that.
“I’m really excited about the awards again this year, as they are the highlight of my year if I’m honest. Many of these people don’t believe they deserve the recognition they are being given and it’s humbling to know they are being awarded for their work.”
Categories include business champion, positive role model and diversity event.
The shortlist was judged by last year’s winners – Gill Bragg, business champion; Owl Blue, organisation champion; Adan Edwards, positive role model and Sheila Gregory, who won the lifetime achievement award in 2021.
Sheila said: ““I was really delighted to win the award. It was a total surprise but it’s really nice to be appreciated in such a way. Diversity and inclusion have been so important to me through my working life and it means a great deal to me that colleagues in the field felt I deserved the award.”
Shortlist
Business Champion
- Emma Porter – Story Contracting
- Razzamataz – South Lakes and Eden
- Louise Branch – A New Hope
Educational Champion
- Zoey Slack – SENCO at Bishop Harvey Goodwin School
- Beaconside Primary School
- Carlisle College
Diversity Event
- Festival of Colours – Barrow Full
- Learn by Lived Experience – North Cumbria Integrated Care Trust NHS
- Furness Pride – Barrow Dropzone
Organisation Champion
- Bee Unique
- Cumbria Deaf Association
- A Sitch Different – Barrow
Positive Role Model
- Alan Rankin – Sellafield
- Matty Thicke – Penrith Pumas
- Nadia Shaw – Bee Unique
Public Sector Champion
- Respect and Inclusion – NCIC
- Leone Edwards – Councillor South Lakeland District Council
- Gillian Day – University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay
Volunteer Champion
- Saj Ghafoor – Multicultural Cumbria
- Steven Jack – Penrith Pumas
- Kerry Carruthers – Nuclear Waste Services
Asha Richardson is the franchisee and principal of Razzamataz South Lakes, which has been nominated in the Business Champion category.
She said: “Performing arts had a huge impact on my life and helped me overcome many challenges,” says Asha. “To see my businesses doing the same for other young people and families from a diverse background is an exceptional feeling and I couldn’t be prouder.”
Asha was 23 when she started to work as a teacher for Razzamataz Penrith but straight away, she knew that she wanted a bigger challenge and believed she could offer so much more as a franchisee.
She said: “Growing up in a rural area as the only mixed-race family, performing arts played a huge part in my, and my siblings’ life. There weren’t any people like me in my area that I could look to and think that’s what I want to do when I grow up, so I believe it is so important to ensure that there’s more visibility for people from a diverse background.”
