Neighbour of the Year

2000 Winner Kathy Cassidy Kathy Cassidy proved to be not only a good neighbour but a champion for an entire neighbourhood. She was fed up of the rising tide of drugs and violence which had turned the area around her home in south Kilburn, London, into what police called “Smack Street.” Up to 200 addicts […]

Teenager of the Year

2000 Winner Gehane Gordelier Gehane Gordelier took on a job that seemed a Mission Impossible to most of her professional colleagues. The post of headteacher at Harry Gosling Primary School in Tower Hamlets, east London, had been advertised three times with no takers. Two schools which had failed Ofsted inspections were combined into one steadily […]

Woman of Courage

2000 Winner Alison Taylor For years, children in care in North Wales were abused and beaten by those charged with their welfare. Some social workers turned a blind eye. Others were part of a more sinister conspiracy of silence. Thankfully, one woman was not prepared to look the other way – even though her complaints […]

Linda McCartney Award for Animal Welfare

2000 Winner Irving Graham Seven-year-old Irving Graham was inspired by TV’s Pet Rescue programme to do something positive to help abandoned animals. The Geordie schoolboy hit on the idea of using the internet to re-home strays and unwanted pets. His dad, also called Irving, was so impressed with his son’s determination to help animals that […]

International Services to Britain

2000 Winner Gareth Evans and Balaram Rai British forces played a crucial role in the Nato campaign against the ruthless ethnic cleansing in wartorn Kosovo last year. The RAF flew hundreds of missions against the Serbian war machine, forcing Slobodan Milosevic to back down, while our soldiers helped the humanitarian effort cope with the flood […]

Careworker of the Year

2000 Winner Jean Forrest Supermum Jean Forrest, 64, has always loved children – so much so that she has been “mum” to an incredible 635 youngsters over the last 37 years. Jean, from Lancing, West Sussex, has four children of her own and has also adopted two boys, who are now 20 and 19. Her […]