Blackpool Civic Trust Awards and Dinner for Achievement in 2019
Blackpool Civic Trust were to hold their Dinner and Awards ceremony at the Carousel Hotel, South Shore, on the 27th March 2020. It was postponed until the pandemic restrictions eased. Please read below for details of the mini-ceremony on the 21st March 2022.
Blackpool Civic Trust Awards for Achievement in 2019
St Stephens on the Cliffs Church 21st March 2022
Due to Covid restrictions the ceremony was deferred and a smaller awards presentation was made at the AGM.
The awards were presented by John Barnett MBE, DL and Danielle Barnett. Joan Humble was master of ceremonies. Below are details of the Awards and photographs of winners being presented with the their awards.
Award Judges for buildings are: Alistair Baines of Cassidy and Ashton, Pippa Greenway of Blackpool Council Planning Department, Nigel Patterson of Blackpool Civic Trust, Planning Officer.
Junior and Senior School Environmental Shield
Park Community Academy
Park Community Academy ‘ECO warriors’ have focused on reducing energy consumption, improving school grounds and further developing Global Citizenship links. The Academy’s annual ‘Big Switch off’ (2018-19) reduced energy consumption by a record 35% in spite of school numbers growing. The development of school grounds concentrated on the Forest school, with pupils learning how to whittle sticks into sculptures and how to build dens to improve their social development and social communications skills. The Academy’s key aim for the year was to sustain existing International partnership links and submit an action plan for accreditation level.
Community Award
Windmill Trust Youth
The Windmill Trust Youth Group was set up in 1978 as a Duke of Edinburgh Award Centre, and offers Blackpool and Fylde youngsters an opportunity to achieve awards from Bronze through to Gold. This includes a silver award, for which there is very limited local provision. The main purpose of the Trust is to offer training and experience to young people from 13-25 years of age and help them achieve their aspirations in terms of employment, apprenticeships or further study. The Trust is particularly proud of the extensive work that has been carried out in improving places and spaces. For example, in 2018-19 10 kilometres of public pathways/bridleways have been cleared of undergrowth and brambles, which has improved access to open spaces around Heron’s Reach for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.
Community Award Highly Commended
Friends of Devonshire Road Rock Gardens
The Friends group meet weekly at the Rock Gardens, except for a winter break, to carry out maintenance work and keep them clean, tidy and accessible to the public, including local residents. This involves a wide variety of gardening tasks, such as planting of flower beds, weeding, light pruning of shrubs and bushes and mowing the lawn in front of the Vista. One of the biggest challenges is to keep the bottom rocky pond free of a particularly virulent weed. In recent years a lot of work has been carried out to clear away undergrowth obscuring the rock formations for which the Gardens are famous. All work is carried out with due regard to the safety and protection of wildlife. The Friends group also organises events and activities at the Gardens both to raise funds and increase public awareness of a local amenity.
Open Spaces Award
North Blackpool Pond Trail
The North Blackpool Pond Trail was set up to protect the wildlife of this green corridor and to make the area accessible by all. It brings together a network of 21 ponds, a lake (with resident heron!), a reedbed, flowing dyke, community orchard, woodlands and meadow grasslands, linked together by a network of footpaths that have been gradually upgraded. The main aim has been to encourage local people to get involved in the long-running project and spend more time in the natural environment. This has proved successful. Most of the conservation and maintenance work has been done by a group of volunteers, who also organised events to increase public awareness of local wildlife and the natural environment.
Presenting the award
Best New Build Award
Boulevard Hotel
The £12 million Boulevard Hotel comprises 120 stylish rooms, including 8 junior suites, 2 park view suites and 8 costal suites, all with either costal views or direct views of the attractions and rollercoasters. All suites boast bespoke artwork complemented by materials sourced from British companies, including handmade furniture by Tetrad, Designers Guild fabrics and wall coverings by Andrew Martin. The hotel includes a signature restaurant, The Beachhouse, seating 90. It uses locally sourced ingredients to create an array of dishes from around the world. There is in addition the Shoreside Conference Centre, with state-of-the art technology and bespoke event planning for up to 200 delegates. The centre was designed to cater for weddings also, with the hotel being licensed to carry out civil ceremonies.
Presentation of the award on the 5th April 2022:
Best Refurbishment Jointly Awarded to:
Best Refurbishment: The Mortgage Shop, Continental Cafe, Andsome Barbers
A £7.84m Blackpool Council project is underway, giving some of the towns’s key roads a facelift to make streets more welcoming and shops more vibrant. The project began in January 2017 with upgrade works to Church Street. The £2.3 million property improvement scheme concentrates on shop and business fronts, with the aim of helping owners to improve the external appearance of their properties and revitalise their ‘kerb appeal’.
The Mortgage Shop, Topping Street
Cafe Continental, Topping Street
Andsome Barber Shop, Edward Street
In holding the event at our AGM over 2 years later than planned we had to miss our wonderful dinner at the Carousel Hotel.
Read our previous Awards events. Click here.