Good Deeds 2023

Ashleigh is a community volunteer providing food parcels and clothing to residents for Support and Grow North East, a charity fighting poverty and social isolation. 

She was nominated by Louise Jones:

“Ashleigh Jones is a Karbon Homes resident who lives in Wallsend.

Ashleigh was a community volunteer providing food parcels and clothing to residents in the Wallsend area for Support and Grow North East. She worked day and night, to ensure that those in her community had what they needed in times of crisis. Ashleigh had a difficult childhood but used that lived experience to support and empower others. Her personal strength, resilience and wisdom has always been inspirational.

Last year, she was offered employment as manager at our base at Bertram Grange Community Centre. As well as running the centre, she still supports those in the immediate community, those in Wallsend and beyond. This isn’t a job for Ashleigh, it’s a passion. She has no clue just how fabulous she is and the difference she makes in so many lives.”

Well done, Ashleigh. We hope this Community Star shows you just how fabulous you are - well done!

Carol Ross from the Jarrow Litter Pickers who was nominated by Anthony Spokes: 

Carol is a committee member of the WI organising events and trips for members as well as doing a lot of generous work in the community. 

Carol was nominated by Marjorie Bolton:

“Carol is just an amazing person.

Carol lives in Morpeth and does so much for other people. She delivers papers on the estate where she lives. Is a Committee member of the WI organising events, speakers, catering as well as trips to the theatre for WI members making travel arrangements and the less able bodied members have access when arriving at the theatre. She’s also a member of the church, taking part in bible groups.

Carol is the type of person that will and does give lifts to people, like myself, to the theatre, cinema; in fact anywhere anyone needs to go.

She works, alongside her husband, collecting and delivering for the food banks. She never complains and is always willing to help, without being asked; she just does it. It is part of Carol to be a helpful person.”

Carol, you truly are an amazing and selfless person and absolutely deserve a Community Star this Christmas.

Leonard supports his fellow tenants at Karbon’s retirement living home Oakwood Court. 

Leonard was nominate by Angela Knox:

“Mr Leonard Small, known to his many friends as Lenny has been a tenant at Karbon’s Oakwood Court since 2013, he has seen quite a lot of changes since his tenancy began including a pandemic and the loss of close friends.

Lenny always has a smile on his face and supported his fellow tenants at Oakwood Court by various acts of kindness and support.

Lenny recognises friends who need support and without being asked when tenants have been ill in hospital, he has taken it upon himself to visit with other friends within the court so they never feel alone and know that people are thinking of them.

After Lenny and his scheme coordinator, Michelle heard from another tenant who was 82 years old that he had never had a birthday party they organised a party for this tenant within a few weeks and everyone in the court and their family and friends were invited and fun was had by all.

Leading from the above social gathering Lenny went out of his way to introduce weekly bacon butty mornings, bingo nights and lately found someone who comes to Oakwood Court every Wednesday and cooks a hot meal for a small price for everyone at the Court. Lenny didn’t stop at including Oakwood Court tenants he has hand delivered leaflets adverting the bingo nights to local tenants in the bungalows increasing the improving socialising at the court.

All of these weekly events are well attended making Oakwood Court a lovely place to be - it’s all thanks to Lenny caring about his community.”

Nice work, Lenny! We'll definitely be joining you for one of your bacon butty mornings. 

Katie and Cat run free children’s activities and a club and provide babies and children’s clothing and toys for those in need in the Thornaby area.

They were nominated by Chantelle:

“They go above and beyond helping anyone that needs it. Pillar of the community.

The church is a great place and atmosphere. They run free children’s activities and a club.

They also give babies and children clothing and toys to those in need.

Katie and Cat who run it are kind, caring, dedicated and passionate and it couldn't run without them. Both amazing women.”

Thank you for all your amazing work, Katie and Cat!

Nettlesworth Community Café have funded thousands of free hot meals to vulnerable people, making sure everyone who contacts them is supported, even if they don’t come from the Chester-le-Street community. 

They were nominated by Angela Knox:

“I am nominating the volunteers of Nettlesworth Community Café for their continued support of Karbon tenants.

The café volunteers have not only funded thousands of free hot meals to vulnerable people, they do it with a smile, with empathy and fill everyone not only with food but with happiness.

Since Covid, as a housing officer, I have found it hard to get sheltered court tenants back to socialising in their communities and feeling safe doing so.

The cost of living has worried older people in our communities and everyone at Nettlesworth Café from the parish council to the volunteers recognise this and reach out and go out of their way to make sure anyone who contacts them are supported it doesn’t matter where they live in the Chester-le-Street area.

This café welcomes around 40 people a week on a Monday for a substantial hot meal including puddings, hot drinks and bingo sessions. Shelley Court, St Johns Court and Matfen Court are all Karbon schemes that benefit from this and continue to do so as well as tenants in the Nettlesworth, Kimblesworth and Sacriston areas.

Even when its regular have been unwell they are not forgotten about, hot meals have been dropped off for them in their homes by the volunteers.

Through these volunteers we have seen a noticeable increased presence in our communal activities within these three schemes, with better attended supported court meetings and communal get togethers and our tenants confidence has grown.

They regularly hold free events for celebrations for children well attended by Karbon tenants in the area such as discos, play get togethers and themed events throughout the year.

This award would be a lovely way to say thank you to everyone involved, giving them something back with extra Christmas cheer.”

An outstanding contribution to the community and surrounding areas. Keep up the great work!

After the loss of her daughter to cancer, Rose began volunteering for cancer patient care charity Daft as a Brush. She now assists cancer patients with hospital appointments and supports them during their treatments.

Rose was nominated by Diane Leighton

“I would like to nominate Rose Peat for a Community Hero star.

A few years ago, Rose suffered the tragic loss of a daughter to cancer.

Rose wanted to give back and she considered working for several charitable cancer organisations. She finally decided she would like to volunteer some of her time to Daft as a Brush. Rose goes out at all hours of the day, three or four days a week assisting in the transportation of cancer patients to their hospital appointments and back home after gruelling treatments.

When a lot of people would have stayed home and felt sorry for themselves Rose did something about it. This is my kind of community hero.”

Rose is definitely out kind of Community Hero too and a worthy winner of a Community Star.

Diane accepted the card on behalf of Rose.

Katherine is a founding member of Tanga Club, a charity that supports children with additional needs and their families. 

Katherine was nominated by Rachael Sanderson:

“Katherine set up Tanga Club initially imagining it would be for a small group of parents that, like her, struggled to find a provision that was appropriate for their children with additional needs. The need for such an offer became immediately apparent, with over 50 people attending within weeks of starting.

This didn't daunt Katherine though, instead, it made her even more determined to provide something special for these children that wasn't just an afterthought. The weekly youth club that she started is still running weekly to this day. Even during Covid Katherine didn't rest, ensuring that children had resource packs and online workshops, while remembering the pressure that parent/carers were under during this period and sending out not only kits for them but also online support.

Tanga now has over 400 beneficiaries and runs parent/carer retreat days, offers advocacy in areas such as support at school and benefits, forest school sessions, specialist session for young adults...the list goes on. She even organises an annual trip to Centre Parcs, this year allowing 160 people to travel there for 4 nights at a heavily subsidised rate (and without charge for those experiencing extreme financial hardship). Just the logistics of this is mind boggling!

Katherine is incredibly modest about the incredible impact she has made; some elements of Tanga such as dealing with safeguarding or the cases where families have been really let down by schools or services, can be especially difficult and harrowing, especially when you have your own challenges at home. Not only does Katherine take the vast majority of the weight on this, but she does so in a way that always pushes the children, and not herself to the forefront of the club.

I hope this has given you a flavour of the amount of time, effort, and energy that Katherine has put into supporting and advocating for these young people, I think what is phenomenal about it, is that she has done all of this while working and managing her own family life as the parent of a child with significant care needs. She is without doubt a 'good egg', a warm and worthy recipient of such a prize. I have sat with Katherine when she has had her own really challenging day and watch her quickly wipe away tears to go and smile and provide an ear to another parent that is struggling. The sacrifices she has made, her passion and enthusiasm has made a tangible difference to many families, including my own.”

Katherine, you've had an incredible impact on so many families in your community who have found your support and the support of Tanga Club to be so helpful. Amazing work!

Claire volunteers for Stronger Together, a charity supporting people living with mental or physical health issues, living with dementia or their carers. 

Claire was nominated by Katie Adams:

“Claire works tirelessly to improve the lives of others despite having challenges of her own. 

"She has been a volunteer with Stronger Together for several years and has developed her skills and knowledge continually, going from 'support' volunteer to leading on many projects. 

Claire runs small activity groups helping people to develop confidence and connect with others, but also helps massively behind the scenes, ensuring policies are immaculate and adhered to, clients are protected, and volunteers are well supported.

Claire believes passionately in helping people to live their best lives and has helped the people of Delves Lane on a weekly basis for many months. She takes initiative to expand our reach in the area and works to always try and find those in need to help them to succeed. 

Her caring approach and understanding nature means her support has been invaluable to Karbon customers and others week after week.  We could not do what we do at Stronger Together without Claire and she truly deserves the recognition that this award would bring.”

We completely agree, Katie. A true community hero and definitely worthy of a Community Star.

Letty created Eggcrackers, a safe space for LGBTQ+ community, anyone with Neurodivergence or additionally abled.

“Letty is part of the LGBTQ+ Community in Chester-le-Street but sadly she felt there wasn't a group for her and her friends, not only in her own residential area but also throughout the entire County of Durham.

After an incident where her friend was physically attacked for trying to use a public restroom, Letty decided she wanted to create a safe space for anyone with Neurodivergence, LGTBQ+ or additionally abled. With this Eggcrackers was born. The thought behind the name of the group and the mission statement they live by is "to bring everyone out of their shell".

Eggcrackers meet weekly in refuse café in Chester-le-Street to offer peer to peer support, look to advertise the group and plan events for their members. All these things require funding and Letty is currently unemployed and self-funding at present. 

Letty has a big presence in the community and is always volunteering and being involved in other projects, she recently volunteered to support Karbon Homes jobs fair in Chester-le-Street, by stewarding people throughout the day and signing attendees in at reception. On this day she also met MP Kevan Jones and Councillor Julie Scurfield, where she managed to speak with them at length about her group and the necessary importance of it, whilst having a stall herself with her own flyers she paid for.

Letty and her group members have been verbally and physically assaulted in Durham, and although Durham offers PRIDE, it hasn't been very inclusive to people outside of that one event per year.

Letty and I have a meeting to see what steps need to be taken to be eligible for funding for her project, and how we advertise the group further to increase membership. At present there are 9 weekly members which have been regular attendees for approx. 12 months.

The feedback they have provided regarding the Eggcrackers is that when in the group they feel welcomed, equal and safer knowing they not only have the support of people experiencing similar things, but more importantly they have made friends.

This is a small and very new project/group in its early stages, but every grant and successful project has started out in the same way. With our support, I think Letty can take this group to its natural next steps and she is my nomination for community hero to her core. Letty is a truly passionate and selfless individual, who just wants to help others to feel safe, supported and remind them they have a right to be themselves with no hostility or shame.”

We're so proud of Letty for starting this much needed organisation that is helping lots of people in the Chester-le-Street community and will definitely go from strength to strength helping more people out of their shell.

Donna is a lead youth worker, going above and beyond to deliver youth clubs, free lunches, toddler sessions and activities for children in the community during the school holidays.

She was nominated by Stephanie Powell:

“Donna is the lead youth worker in a team who deliver fantastic sessions for the local community. These sessions range from youth clubs, free lunches for the community, toddler sessions, drop-in sessions and additional multiple daily activities for children during school holidays.

The community are supported with access to fully funded lunch projects, access to free Greggs food once a week, all free and all collected by Donna herself.

The children are given fantastic opportunities to go on trips, have parties, sleepovers, etc. All of the children and adults in our community idolise Donna. She is a big support and nothing is ever too much hassle.

I’m confident a lot of what she does is not within her job remit and she goes above and beyond for the whole community. She also provides sessions for children and families and Bullion Hall in Chester-le-Street. Often travelling backwards and forwards from one group to the other.

Costs are always kept to very minimal when activities are not free (which is rare) and this gives a lot of the families access to opportunities they wouldn’t always have.

Donna does not live in the local area and is often on site at work before seven in the morning. She dedicates her all to what she does and she is a well-respected part of the community. She has time for everyone who walks through those doors, and I know I speak on behalf of the whole community when I say I don’t know what we would do without her!

A lot of the older kids choose to go and spend time in the community centre for Donna’s company alone.

During the Covid pandemic, families were provided with daily activities and lunches dropped off to their homes every weekday by Donna and her team, they also visited every child on Halloween and Christmas with sweets and gifts due to usual activities being unable to take place, of course with full effort in dress up! She has even given up her time to prolong youth sessions to enable parents to attend a funeral of a well-liked local man.

There is a lot more not outlined in this comment that Donna does, and she really is a star!”

Amazing work, Donna - a Community Star if ever we saw one!