08 Jul Time to nominate Torbay’s community heroes

Tanny receives a standing ovation, as she’s presented the Community Champion Award by previous winner, Norrms McNamara

Within hours of launching the 2026 Community Champion Awards, we had our first nomination for an unsung hero. Result.

Over the next few weeks, we expect many more, each celebrating the efforts of someone who has gone the extra mile for their community, adding to the more than 300 we have already celebrated and thanked over the last two years.

The Community Champion Awards are now in their third year and every nomination, every name put forward, is a winner in someone’s eyes; otherwise, they wouldn’t bother filling in the form.

Once again, this year there are nine categories, and sometimes it isn’t obvious which award to target. To help narrow it down, it might be helpful to look back at previous years to see who rose to the top, why they were selected over other deserving submissions, and why the judges drew up the shortlist they did.

Back in 2024, the Carer of the Year was Kevin Helmore who worked hard to get the voice of the learning-disabled community heard across the Bay. Last year that award went to Ali Meadows for her work giving unpaid Carers a voice, speaking up for those who support their family members or friends in a range of settings.

The first Health and Wellbeing Champion was Bryan Pitman from Brixham Rugby Club for this work setting up the Club’s Looseheadz mental health wellbeing group after a tragic incident when one of the First team players took his own life at the age of 34 because of mental health and other issues. Last year the Award went to Up and Running Torbay which provides running opportunities for adults of all ages and abilities.

The Emergency Worker of the Year first went to Angie Manning, recognising her work supporting victims of Domestic Abuse, and last year the accolade went to Paul Northey, who, as well as being a paramedic, has helped train others in first aid and provided cover for community events across the Bay.

Barbara Sutton was the worthy winner of Volunteer of the Year in 2024 for her work with the Guiding movement and Children’s Week in Paignton. The accolade passed to Southwest Bloodbiker, Paul Duchemin, who responded to more than 300 urgent calls to deliver more than 700 essential items of whole blood, blood products, pathology and microbiology samples, donor breast milk, medical records, etc., etc.

Mike Langman of the Friends of Clennon Lakes picked up the Climate and Environment Champion Award last year for the group’s work restoring Torbay’s most important wetland to its former glory. The year before it went to the Cricketfield Community Garden in Hele.

Hotly contested down the years has been the Volunteering Team of the Year Award, picked up in 2024 by H.M. Torbay Coastguard Rescue Team, which attends around 150 incidents a year.  But it was Brixham Rugby Club that was back in the spotlight last year after it was revealed it takes more than 175 volunteers a week to ensure the club runs smoothly.

Everybody needs a Good Neighbour, and we have been regaled with stories representing the very best of them in communities across the Bay. Jess Gane, a young mother of four and business owner who still found time for her neighbours, was the winner in 2024, and Bill Taylor came out top in 2025 after we learned he had dedicated more than 50 years to the service of others.

We have been overwhelmed by nominations for Young Volunteer of the Year category, so much so that last year we ended up with four winners – Daisy Coote, Peter-Criss Brian Healy, Macey Gardiner and Yazmin Stanley. In 2024, it was Leighton-Rose Jarrett that captured the hearts of the judges and walked away with the award.

Finally, we have been able to recognise the lifelong dedication with the Lifetime Award that went first to Noman McNamara, whose Purple Angel programme has ambassadors worldwide to improve dementia care.

However, last year the field was stronger, and we recognised three stalwarts of the community – Major Ron Goodwin, who raises around £50,000 a year for the Poppy Appeal, Tanny Stobart, founding director of Play Torbay and Carolyn Morgan, who immersed herself in numerous charities after arriving in Brixham in 1988.

The easy bit is the nomination – go to the awards page here on our website, and make yours today. The hard bit is the judging and the more you nominate the harder it will be!