Celebration of Newtown Awards 2022 – 11/03/22

Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn Town Council were delighted to hold their first annual Celebration of Newtown Awards 2022 on Wednesday 9th March 2022 at Theatre Hafren, supported by NPTC Newtown. The town council decided to hold the awards in order to acknowledge and celebrate the outstanding community efforts by individuals, groups and businesses in Newtown during the past difficult year.

The high number of entries and nominations received under the 6 categories were an acknowledgement of the outstanding community efforts that individuals, groups and businesses have delivered in Newtown during the Covid pandemic. We thank the community for their valued nominations in all the categories.

The awards were presented to the winners on the night by Cllr Richard Williams, Mayor of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn Town Council. He opened the evening with a heart-warming speech; “It’s been a few years in the making, but we are finally here this evening! The idea behind this event is quite simply – to celebrate and recognise the amazing talent, kindness and success of residents and businesses in Newtown.

I have to say that personally, I was blown away by the stories of those nominated for one of our awards this evening – again highlighting the talent and kindness in our town. Alongside those awards we are here tonight to celebrate and recognise those groups which the Town Council has awarded a Community Grant and those businesses who employ and release on call firefighters.” All award winners and runners up were outstanding and worthy of recognition. A few examples demonstrate how the efforts of some individuals and groups in Newtown had an enormous impact on their communities at a time of need.

The Mayor’s chosen charity Ponthafren delivered a short presentation which highlighted the amazing work they deliver in the community, introducing, the Mayor said “I choose Ponthafren as my mayor’s charity for the year because of one important issue – the issue of mental health in young men. It made sense that I, being young and a man do what I can to promote this important issue.”

Cllr Richard Williams, Mayor, said: “These awards show there is an astonishing number of people working behind the scenes across the Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn area to make life easier for others less fortunate than themselves.

“These volunteers have their moment in the spotlight so that others can be inspired by their efforts and join them in helping to provide the glue that holds our community together.”

Town Clerk, Ed Humphreys commented: “It was a privilege to be with so many good people doing so many good things in the community. It demonstrates what an energetic, lively and committed community Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn is. One of The Town Council’s roles is to enable others to make good contributions to community life, these awards do just that.”

Special thanks to Ffonic, Newtown’s community folk band for the evening’s entertainment, NPTC Newtown and The Hafren for the hospitality.

Congratulations to all our worthy Winners and Runner Ups listed below:

Award Category	Winner	Runner Up
Citizens Advice Powys Joint Working Award	Newtown Food Bank (Salvation Army)
Sports Award	Aled Breeze	Ken Lewis
Climate Award	Newtown Community Cafe	Magik Incorporated Resource Centre
Youth Group of the Year	Newtown Army Cadets	NYP Theatre Group
Business of the Year	Buzzy’s Hair Salon	IC Quality Meats
Volunteer of the Year	Rory Evans	Andrew Coppin