Haddenham & Waddesdon Community Board celebrate fantastic community contributions at the Proud of Bucks Awards 2022

The Proud of Bucks event was held at Waddesdon Community Centre, which is a little known community venue in Frederick Street. We were blessed with a lovely balmy summer’s evening on 7th June. The venue had an outdoor space with children’s play equipment, which ensured our young winners and their siblings could enjoy as much fun as the adults, who were able to enjoy the views across to Quainton Windmill. The evening also showcased two of the Community Board’s environmental partners: Zero Carbon Haddenham and the Quainton Community Heritage Orchard and Wildlife project, which we hope will inspire others to adopt some of their ideas to enrich their own community.

The evening was relaxed and informal with Cllr Paul Irwin, Vice Chair of the Board and Helen Mee representing the Award Sponsor, The Clare Foundation presenting the awards. Recipients said it provided a valuable opportunity for communities to come together in person and highlighted how much community activity is taking place in the Board area.

Young Community Champion

Winner: Douglas Young

Douglas Young from Oakley has been raising awareness of a rare and incurable condition that he lives with, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which weakens his muscles. He was asked to attend the Oxford Children’s Hospitals Conference as a guest speaker to talk to medical professionals about living with the condition. His speech also went on to inspire his local Parish Council to review accessibility in the village.

Reason for nomination: Douglas is remarkable for his young age and has risen above his own challenges to raise awareness of this condition leading to greater understanding of it as well as the need for accessibility in public places.

Highly commended: Jack Luckett

Jack Luckett from Cuddington started to volunteer with the Parish Council doing odd jobs and litter picking as part of his Duke of Edinburgh award but decided to continue this after the Award was complete. He has supported the local Wildlife Project, which played a key role in helping the community recover from the effects of lockdown, by putting up bird boxes around the village which entails tackling some difficult locations with a ladder!

Reason for nomination: Jack is engaged with his local community and willing to give up his time to make a difference in it, which is what the awards are all about.

Local Community Champion:

Winner: Felicity Brooks

Felicity Brooks from Berryfields has been instrumental in establishing the Roman Park Community Fund food bank and spends many hours in all weathers purchasing items, sorting donations and delivering goods to residents as well as serving in the food bank — always with a smile. She is a busy lady with her own family needs but is always available to listen to those who are struggling themselves.​

Reason for nomination: Felicity naturally identifies a need and steps in to meet it. She has a gift for coming alongside others at a time when they need it most.

Highly commended: Bill Piers

Bill Piers is the team leader and driving force behind the Ramblers Repairing and Improving Public Paths for Leisure and Exercise known as Ripple. Bill leads and motivates a small group of committed people who under his direction have installed over 300 accessible gates on footpaths around the Haddenham area.​

Reason for nomination: Bill demonstrated that he is able to inspire others with his passion to make our rights of way accessible for all in leading a team which provides this valuable service that most of us take for granted on our walks.

Community Group Contribution:

Winner: Zero Carbon Haddenham

Zero Carbon Haddenham is a group that aims to reduce the parish’s carbon footprint and runs several projects including a repair café and loans out a thermal imaging camera to residents to help reduce heat loss. Last winter the group planted 1,400 hedge plants and 60 trees with more to come. The team established a tree nursery to grow trees from own locally collected acorns and cuttings. The group seeks to be innovative and has been responsible for promoting/enabling and campaigning for other initiatives in the village such as the community orchard and farmers market.

​Reason for nomination: This group demonstrates that when we join together with likeminded individuals we can truly make a difference to impact our environment in a positive way. The group is always looking for new ideas and expressions of how to promote positive behaviours on the environment and add to its value.

Highly commended: Brill with Ukraine

The Brill with Ukraine Group brought together the Ukrainian refugees in and around the village. The group meets regularly to offer support and to problem solve different issues they face. In particular, they have helped secure Ukranian medical professionals, clinical observerships at local clinics and hospitals so they can progress into a career with the NHS.

Reason for nomination:​

This is a new group created in response to the Ukrainian war. Together they have been on a journey to explore how best to support their local Ukrainian families and sponsors. They have demonstrated that we don’t need to have all the answers before we step in and act but come with a heart of compassion and be open to respond and learn.