Lorraine Kelly honours the UK’s unsung heroes at Royal Mai

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Lorraine Kelly honours the UK’s unsung heroes at Royal Mail’s 1st Class People Awards

http://www.news.royalmailgroup.com/news ... royal_mail

31/03/2008


A fundraising ‘marathon man’ who has two types of cancer has been named Royal Mail’s "Postman of the Year" by TV presenter Lorraine Kelly at the company’s 1st Class People Awards.

Simon Illingworth collected his accolade from Lorraine and Royal Mail Managing Director Mark Higson at a ceremony in London where awards were presented to 26 regional winners from all over the UK, and where the national winners were announced.

Simon was diagnosed with testicular cancer and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2003; since then he has run more than 20 marathons to raise awareness of the disease, and £7,000 for charity.

He takes his inspiration from other fundraising athletes with cancer - the late Jane Tomlinson and cyclist Lance Armstrong. Simon said: "I want something good to come out of something bad and am doing all I can to raise awareness of testicular cancer."

This year Simon’s target is to complete a "marathon of marathons" in aid of Cancer Research and he has already completed six of the 26 races - including a marathon in Weymouth the Sunday before yesterday’s awards ceremony.

In total, Simon has completed over 50 marathons; his ambition is to have run 100 by the age of 50.

Royal Mail was contacted by thousands of customers who nominated their postman or woman as an ‘unsung hero’ in these popular annual awards.

Lorraine Kelly said: "In the UK our postmen and women are a group of very remarkable people who contribute so much, with acts of kindness, a huge amount of fundraising, and a commitment to volunteering which makes such a difference to the local communities where they live and work."

Amongst the nominations were twenty-two examples of people being saved by a postman or woman - and emergency services have said that nineteen of those people would not be alive today without someone from Royal Mail going to their aid.

Mark Higson, Royal Mail’s Managing Director said: "Because our people make daily deliveries to all 27 million addresses in the UK they will often be the first to discover an accident, fire, or someone taken ill, and are quick to respond."

He added: "Our people are part of the local community and customers turn to the familiar face of their postman or woman for help if things go wrong - as the winners of the national bravery award discovered."

Derek Neave from Fleetwood and Ryan Davenport from Cardiff East were named joint winners of Royal Mail’s National Bravery Award; both went to the aid of young mums on their rounds.

When Terri Hine ran into the street crying for help Derek went to investigate and found several adults standing round a lifeless 13-month-old baby on the hall floor.

Derek, who is also a retained fire-fighter and trained in first aid, knew exactly what to do, threw down his bag and immediately began chest compressions and mouth to mouth resuscitation; after a minute and a half Derek brought the child back to life, and kept her alive until an ambulance arrived.

Meanwhile in Wales, Ryan made a very special delivery when mother of three Melanie Newman opened the door to announce that her fourth child was arriving early - and fast. With the help of a neighbour and with advice on his mobile phone from emergency services, Ryan helped deliver baby Sophie in the hallway of her new home.

John Knox from Stirling in Scotland won Royal Mail’s National Community Award. Outside of work John is the father of 10 children, but still finds the time to involve himself in local community projects. He is one of the driving forces behind the Ochil Explorers, an outdoor adventure scheme for children aged between eight and 16. The group encourages youngsters to spend their leisure time in fun, healthy pursuits such as navigation, canoeing and kayaking.

John is also a committee member of the Raploch Re-Generation group, which is involved in the development and improvement of the Raploch area. He is also chairman of the Ochil Committee Centre User Club, which manages the local community centre. He is an avid football fan and also finds time to run a Royal Mail football team at the Stirling Delivery Office. In his spare time his favourite hobby is canoeing.

Mark Higson said: "All of these winners are fantastic examples of bravery, selflessness and helping others in often extraordinary circumstances. These examples are the tip of the iceberg and I would like to congratulate everyone who was nominated, and also say thank you to all the Royal Mail people who are doing amazing things. Everyone deserves to be recognised, and I’m delighted that they all work for Royal Mail."

[bexhil palace]

Higson, these are not your people.
So stop riding on the backs of their selfless acts.

Rant over (for now).