Above left to right: Mayoress Mrs Marilyn Devine, Mahesh Naran, Tony Butler, Kim Van Den Berghe, Mayor of Harrow, Cllr Margaret Davine and Christopher Holley, CEO of HCHA. Photos by Lucy Baker.
On Wednesday 13th September the Mayor of Harrow, Cllr Margaret Davine accompanied by Mayoress Mrs Marilyn Devine visited Ewart House extra care scheme to present the Harrow Churches Housing Association’s (HCHA) Community Star Awards. The awards recognise people who have helped to make a strong positive contribution to HCHA’s tenants and community life.
The three award recipients were taken by complete surprise because they thought that they were attending a special visit by the Mayor of Harrow to play bingo in the communal lounge!
Chris Holley, CEO of at HCHA announced, ‘We like to look at the work people do in HCHA and with our partners and volunteers, and there are people in the Harrow community who have done great things, and we wanted to recognise their involvement in helping to make our community a better place through the HCHA Community Star Awards.’
Mayor Davine said, ‘It’s a great pleasure to be visiting HCHA today, I have known the residents over the years, and this visit is very special to me.’ She went on to present the HCHA Community Star Awards to:
Kim Van Den Berghe
Kim is an external volunteer who came to HCHA from Age UK. He has been running the weekly Wednesday bingo sessions for over five years. This popular event is open to all HCHA tenants as well as anyone living locally in the community. Kim knows most of the residents by name. Kim’s day job is online marketing from home and says that getting out and volunteering at bingo allows him to give back to society and work with older people. On receiving the award Kim beamed, ‘It’s a total surprise, I will keep this award on my mantle piece!’
Tony Butler
Tony is a resident of Ewart House and has been volunteering to run the weekly Film Club at Ewart House for several years. Tony said, ‘My hobby is film and I like to share the experience of film with my neighbours.’ His film club brings residents together to socialise, chat and watch a good movie. Tony was delighted to receive his award and added, ‘I had no idea, it’s very nice. Thank you.’
Mahesh Naran
Mahesh is a member of the HCHA maintenance & Adapt team. Mahesh was nominated for his willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty for our tenants and staff. His professionalism, warm personality and infectious sense of humour go a long way in making Mahesh such a popular member of staff who takes great pride in his work and is liked by all. After receiving the award Mahesh said, ‘I’m grateful to those who nominated me. I really enjoy my job, especially the variety of things I get to do and having a laugh with the tenents – which makes it great.’
After presentation of the awards it was eyes down for a round of bingo as Kim called out the numbers to a full house of players!
You can nominate a person for the HCHA Community Star Awards. They can be a tenant, their family member/carer, a volunteer, board member or neighbour, in fact anyone who has helped to make a difference to the HCHA resident community. Just let a member of staff know who you’d like to nominate and why, alternatively you can email us info@hcha.org.uk don’t forget to include your name and address. All nominations will be looked at by a panel.