Local volunteer Liz Connolly receives a prestigious Volunteer Award from The Centre, Livingston in recognition of her extensive voluntary work for over 10 years with the charity Young at Heart and her ongoing support at Community Action Blackburn.
The Centre, Livingston Volunteer Award is part of the shopping centre’s ‘Support in the Community’ initiative, established over a decade ago, to pay tribute to people who have gone above and beyond in their own time to help others and reward them with a personalised, framed certificate and a £100 Gift Card.
Lisa Haggerty Brown, the Development Officer at Community Action Blackburn who runs her own senior support group, has worked with Liz for many years, and as soon as she heard about the Volunteer Award from her manager, she jumped at the chance to put her forward as a ‘thank you’ for all the incredible work she does.
For the past decade, Liz has been a treasurer in the Young at Heart charity in Blackburn, which was set up over 30 years ago.
The group, which has continued to be a constant in the lives of the attendees, welcomes around 40 current participants every week, varying in ages between 65 and 90, to enjoy the activities planned by the dedicated committee, which include weekly exercise and yoga classes.
Liz’s role also includes securing external funding to pay for day trips, theatre shows, coffee mornings and afternoon teas, as well as making sure the group are kept up-to-date with any initiatives that could benefit them, including the warm home discount.
During her career as a liaison and compliance officer, she also volunteered at Blackburn Local Employment Scheme (BLES), where she joined the team to help local people increase their skills and knowledge to secure jobs.
Lisa said: “I am delighted that Liz has received this award, as she selflessly does so much for everyone else – it’s great for her to be recognised for all the hard work she does!
“Liz gives so much to the community of Blackburn, and the number of hours she puts in to make sure every member in the group feels special is phenomenal.
“She is always on the end of the phone for the members to contact her if they ever need to chat, and knowing them all as well as she does, she tends to keep a close eye on those who need that little bit of extra support and reassurance.”
Liz said: “Thank you so much to The Centre, Livingston for giving me this wonderful Volunteer Award.
“When I was told I had been nominated, I was absolutely thrilled and so happy that my work as a volunteer, which I thoroughly enjoy, has been recognised as being of value to other people in the local community.
“I’m very much looking forward to treating myself to something nice with the very generous Gift Card as a reminder of being presented with this very special award.”
Patrick Robbertze, Centre Director at The Centre, Livingston said: “Our Volunteer Award is designed to put the spotlight on people like Liz who are going above and beyond to help people in the local community.
“It was great to hear about all the fantastic work she is doing in Blackburn, which is highly commendable, and it’s an honour to present her with our well-deserved award.
“We are always on the lookout for local volunteers who have gone the extra mile to help people in the community and reward them for the great work they are doing.
“If you know anyone who deserves to be recognised and rewarded, we’d love to hear from you. All nominations can be sent to enquiries@thecentrelivingston.com.”
As well as Liz’s role at Young at Heart, she also supports Community Action Blackburn, which has recently been awarded funds for a ‘Blackburn Lives – Celebrating Our Shared History’ project which will give residents the opportunity to share memories and take part in reminiscence sessions.
It is also designed to give local school pupils the chance to learn about the history of the area.
The funding will also support the creation of Blackburn Museum, in partnership with History of Blackburn and West Lothian Council, which will be based in the heart of the community within Blackburn Partnership Centre.
The organisation is appealing to anyone with links to Blackburn to share their stories, photographs and any artefacts that can be exhibited.
Article continues below
For more information, email charlieblackburn.cab@gmail.com or check out the History of Blackburn Facebook page.
Don’t miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier. Sign up to our free newsletter