V Involved Awards 2009

Vinvolved youth volunteering project, hosted by Knowsley CVS, staged Casino Vol, a Bond-themed celebration event, to congratulate local young people for their voluntary work in the area.

KHT’s Quarry Green Resident Group joined KHT's Customer Involvement team (pictured) at the awards night at Kirkby Suite to celebrate the work of young volunteers in the borough.

Two members of the Resident Group Mary Dennis and Jess Culley gave a presentation about the Dream Scheme work their group had done with young people in their local area. Their presentation was well received and they also took the opportunity to network with other agencies to help plan their celebration for European Neighbours Day at the end of May.

The evening included live music and dance from Danny Morris and the AJ Dancer productions, a fun casino, and entertainment provided by young volunteer DJs from local student radio KCC Live!

Over 160 people joined in rewarding the young volunteer’s achievements in supporting their local community – together they have contributed nearly £100,000 worth of free hours to 18 charity and statutory organisations across the borough during the past year.

Projects the volunteers have been involved with include helping on a city farm, improving their local community green spaces, youthwork, hospital and care work, sports coaching, music, emergency services support, dance coaching and many more. Involvement in such projects has helped the young people gain valuable experience and a wide range of skills, boosting their confidence, abilities and employability.

Six young people were also awarded Volunteer of the Year prizes for their outstanding contribution to the organisations they’re working with. Knowsley MBC Youth Service commented on their volunteer’s “positive attitude and commitment to the project which creates a fantastic environment where other young people can learn and develop and model her behaviour.”

One of the Police Cadets, Erika Conway, said that the event “shows that people who volunteer are actually being noticed, and we’re not all thugs! I was really surprised at how many people volunteer in Knowsley”.

After presenting awards to the volunteers Danny Morris wowed the audience with a 40 minutes set from his new Overload tour. The set included nine numbers involving full-choreographed routines with six dancers from AJ Dance productions. After the show Danny said, " The audience were fantastic and every person there fully deserved their awards for the excellent volunteering they do in the community. At a time when young people get so much bad publicity its great to see what the real story about what the youth of today really is" for more of Danny's tour dates please visit www.theoverloadtour.com . Earlier on in the day Danny Morris was out promoting the event during a live show on KCC Live