Heathrow employees were big winners at the fifth BAA I-Volunteer Awards, scooping a total of £31,000 for their charities from the BAA Communities Trust, including four of the top awards.
The annual awards ceremony took place on July 2, hosted by BAA chief executive Colin Matthews and former BBC newsreader Martyn Lewis.
The awards were set up by the BAA Communities Trust and are now in their fifth year. Volunteers and fundraisers across all of BAA’s seven airports are eligible to enter and have the chance to win valuable funds for their chosen charity.
The awards comprise six categories and are open to individual staff members, teams and managers. Winners receive £5,000 cash for their charitable cause, whilst runners-up receive £2,000. Every shortlistee receives £500 and every eligible entrant receives £200. A total of 73 staff members entered the awards from Heathrow, close to last year’s record number.
“Congratulations go to all Heathrow staff who entered the awards and especially those who won or were highly commended in their categories. The awards that they have won will really make a difference to the charities they support,” said Helen Nation, Community Relations Manager for BAA Heathrow.
The Outstanding Contribution to the Community award was presented to Nigel Clarke from Heathrow’s design team. He volunteers his design skills to help promote the Esther Benjamins Trust, an initiative that helps rescue children forced to work as circus performers and then educates and trains them in new skills. The trust’s campaigning efforts have helped make child trafficking illegal in Indian circuses and created a sustainable art studio where rescued Nepalese children are provided with a potential career.
Nigel Fraser, Product and Technical Strategy Manager at Heathrow, was the winner of the Best Volunteering Individual award. He spends 20 hours a month volunteering and runs an annual fundraising event through the ‘Battle of the Construction Industry Bands Association’ he established. Money his association raised goes to charities such as Red Cross and the Copenhagen Youth Project (CYP), working with deprived children in London. The donation to CYP included a PA system, recording equipment and funding to hold a music-related project.
Mark Hicks, Service Manager at Terminal 5, was highly commended in the same category. He volunteers as a Community First Responder for South Central Ambulance Service Charity, where he responds to incidents called in to emergency control for Thatcham. Often his team gets there before the ambulance crew and proceeds with life-saving skills until the crew arrives. He has personally attended 100 ‘999’ calls and commits 99 hours of voluntary work a month, including 12-hour shifts with the ambulances to gain further training.
Angelieca Tewarson, Service Manager at Terminal 4, was highly commended in the Most Supportive Manager category. She was nominated for her continued support of colleague Krystyna Kulej’s aspirations to improve Heathrow’s customer service by expanding the communication available to non-English speaking passengers. Angelieca encouraged her staff to share their language skills and contribute to a Q&A sheet being created in different languages.
Commenting on his award, Mark Hicks says “I am delighted to receive this award and it was fantastic to see all the other great volunteering being done by BAA staff. This award will mean a lot to South Central Ambulance Charity, which only has a small budget for resources.”
