Community Achievement Awards
To honour and recognise some of the special people who are doing exceptional things for the good of our community, who often remain behind the scenes and are not normally recognised, we would like to acknowledge these individuals with Community Achievement Awards.
There are 3 categories to the awards:
- Community Champion
- Business Champion
- Environment Champion
Nominations are invited for people who live, work or volunteer within Appleby. They could be someone who:
- Works as a volunteer or staff member for a local community organisation(s) and supports worthwhile causes within the community.
- Goes over and beyond in their place of work and brightens the lives of people in some way – this could be a friendly shop keeper, postman, etc.
- Looks out for neighbours, who might need a little help from time to time.
The person making the nomination must not be related to the person they are nominating and should be someone who either works/volunteers with them or who has first-hand knowledge of why they deserve to be recognised by this award.
The deadline for receipt of applications is Monday, 20th April 2026 and the awards will be presented at the Annual Parish Meeting on Wednesday, 29th April 2026.
Nomination forms can be downloaded below, or collected as a hard copy from Appleby Tourist Information Centre. For any further information or queries, please contact the Town Clerk clerk@applebytown.gov.uk
2026 Winners
The Business Champion was presented to David Cleator. David has had his electrical shop in Appleby for over 50 years. David has always gone over and above for his customers and will be missed in town when he retires very shortly.
Two awards were presented for the Environment Champion. The first award was presented to Julie Johnstone. Julie is Chair of Appleby Edibles and Coordinator for Appleby Emergency Response Group. Appleby Edibles offers the community small growing spaces up at the old Heritage Centre site beside the station. With Julie’s help, the group, which was struggling, has grown and flourished over the past couple of years. Julie is also Coordinator of AERG, providing invaluable support to improve the group’s services. She is heavily involved in responding to flood warnings and alerts, enabling the community to be flood-resilient.
The second Environment Champion award was presented to Gordon Shaw. Gordon has been a volunteer for the Red Squirrel Group for a number of years and provides great support to anyone in Appleby who encounters grey squirrels in their gardens or wooded areas, helping to preserve our red squirrel population for years to come.
The Community Champion award was presented to Dawn Brown. Dawn began volunteering for Appleby Air Cadets 10 years ago, as her son was a cadet and the squadron was short of adult staff. Dawn proved to be such a great asset, she went into uniform as an Adult Volunteer Sergeant in 2018 and was promoted to Flight Sergeant in 2023. Dawn is the only uniformed member of staff for the Appleby Squadron, supported by a small group of adult volunteers. Dawn’s squadron leader said that she always goes the extra mile to ensure the cadets gain the best experience possible.
2025 Winners
The Town Meeting on Wednesday 30th April was very well supported, with representatives from 20 local groups and organisations in attendance. As part of the meeting, the winners of the Community Achievement Awards were announced. The Business Champion was Lucy Richardson from Appleby Business Services, always going over and above to help people. The Environmental Champion was Nikki Brabant for the hard work she does with Appleby Wombles, being called the ‘driving force and inspiration’ behind the group. Two Community Champions, Jenni Whitfield for her work with Eden Animal Rescue, raising amazing amounts of money, and Archie Spence for being the driving force of Appleby Community Acting Together. Archie was on holiday, so the award was accepted in his absence. All very worthy winners!
