24 charities receive awards to tackle social and environmental challenges

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A group of 24 frontline charities working in the fields of Community, Environment, Welfare and Youth have been named winners of the Weston Charity Awards. Celebrating its tenth anniversary, the Awards recognise and boost the vital work of charities across the UK, amplifying their impact and fuelling long-term resilience in the face of growing social and environmental risks. 

This year's winning charities, located in the North and Midlands of England and Wales, will receive a support package valued at over £22,000. This includes strategic planning resources from Pilotlight, a pro bono charity connecting charities with expert business professionals, alongside a £6,500 grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation. 

Sophia Weston, Deputy Chair of Trustees at Garfield Weston Foundation commented: 

In today’s world, the challenges facing communities are more complex than ever. We’re proud to partner with Pilotlight to support these 24 outstanding charities who are finding innovative ways to combat issues ranging from rising inequality to threats to our natural environment. 

The 2024 winners serve over 650,000 people with diverse missions including addressing racial inequity, supporting homeless people, reducing reoffending, and championing environmental conservation. Their work has never been more critical. 

Ed Mayo, Chief Executive of Pilotlight commented:  

The Weston Charity Awards provide a lifeline to smaller charities on the frontlines of changing social and environmental needs. Pilotlight is excited to offer our expertise in helping these charities develop strategic plans for the future, ensuring they can maximise their impact and navigate uncertainty.

Among this year’s recipients is Caring and Sharing Rochdale, a charity providing practical support and empowerment for people from marginalised backgrounds. Nicky Iginla, CEO, at the charity said:  

Winning a Weston Charity Award will empower our charity to broaden our reach and deepen our impact.

Eating Distress North East, a specialist mental health organisation working in the northeast of England, is also named as a winner. Anne Fry, Chief Executive at the charity commented:  

Winning a Weston Charity Award is an incredible boost for our work, enabling us to accelerate our strategic plans. 

A full list of Weston Charity Awards 2024 winners and a short description of their services follows.

England 
North East 

• Eating Distress North East
  Eating Distress North East is a specialist mental health organisation working in North East England. Its services support people whose lives are disrupted because they experience serious mental and emotional distress caused by psychological trauma, giving rise to harmful eating and behaviours.  

• Handcrafted
  Handcrafted aims to empower those who have been disadvantaged or faced social exclusion due to crime, alcohol or substance abuse, poor mental or physical health, unemployment, or having experienced abuse or been in the care system.  

• Northern Heartlands 
  Northern Heartlands is a charity based in County Durham bringing the creativity of artists together with individuals, community groups, schools and partner organisations.  

North West 

• Caring and Sharing Rochdale 
  Caring and Sharing Rochdale is a registered charity that provides practical support and empowerment for people from marginalised backgrounds, with a special focus on Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Communities who grapple with the harsh realities of their backgrounds. 

• Community Solutions 
  Community Solutions (CS) is a community hub at the heart of its community supporting vulnerable, isolated, and disadvantaged people to improve their health and wellbeing, and to overcome crisis or significant life transitions through co-designed and bespoke support packages, delivered at a pace suited to each person.  

• The Peter Pan Centre 
  The Peter Pan Centre works to give children with special educational needs and disabilities the best start in life and their families the support they deserve. Providing exceptional care, support and education to children from birth to age five with a range of special educational needs, Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.  

• Veterans in Communities 
  Veterans in Communities (VIC) exists to enable ex-forces personnel, emergency services personnel and their families to be a part of their local community. It offers a range of services to support individuals through peer supported activities, such as weekly arts and crafts groups, breakfast clubs/cafes, VIC Choir, walks and outdoor activities and learning opportunities.  

Yorkshire & the Humber 

• Battle Scars 
  Battle Scars is a 100% survivor led and run charity supporting anyone affected by self-harm. It offers support to people of all ages (to date: 18 months to 83 years old) and genders by providing varied support and free resources including a youth journal.  

• Bradford Organic Communities Services Ltd 
  Bradford Organic Communities Services (BOCS) is an environment charity active across Bradford from 2004. With principles of renew, reuse and recycle BOCS seeks to work with local communities to improve health and wellbeing through active participation in its three services: Bradford RePaint, Wisbey Community Gardens and Scrap Magic. 

• Foresight 
  Foresight provides services to enhance lifestyles and improve the overall quality of life for disabled people in North and North East Lincolnshire and surrounding areas. It currently works with over 1,000 disabled people weekly and key activities include: running of two day centres, provision of learning, employability programmes and volunteering opportunities for the wider community. 

• Fumble
  Fumble is an award-winning youth charity in the UK, leading the way in supporting young people with their mental health, sexual health and relationships in the digital age. It aims to make sure that young people have the skills and knowledge to successfully manage their sexual health, mental health and relationships. 

• Hope Housing (Bradford) Ltd
  Hope Housing provides supported accommodation for the homeless. It assists people out of homelessness and helps transition them into the next phase of their lives, but this process frequently requires time and does not always happen immediately. Instead of merely giving clients a place to live, it offers them a range of support. 

East Midlands 

• Accommodation Concern 
  Accommodation Concern works to prevent and relieve poverty and homelessness in Northamptonshire. It provides supported housing for people who have found themselves homeless and need help to develop independent living skills and be able to manage their own tenancy.  

• Buxton Civic Association - Poole's Cavern & Buxton Country Park 
  Buxton Civic Association (BCA) is a volunteer led environmental heritage charity, caring for the natural and built heritage of the small rural town. Its purpose is to make the lives of those who live, work, and visit Buxton better.  

• Doddridge Centre Limited 
  Doddridge Centre is a community hub offering a variety of support and services to those who live in poverty and deprivation. It works with both individuals and organisations to provide opportunities for growth, support and development and it does this in a manner of different ways, best suited to the individual or families. 

• Lincolnshire Action Trust 
  Lincolnshire Action Trust works with people directly and indirectly impacted by the justice system in Lincolnshire and surrounding counties. Established in 2000 to deliver employability support to people on probation, it now delivers holistic interventions to address individual’s housing, employment, substance use, wellbeing, and family needs. 

West Midlands 

• Carers Trust Heart of England
  Carers Trust Heart of England exists to support unpaid carers of all-ages and to provide care and support in the community for people who have care and support needs. It aims to support carers and those they care for by providing the highest possible quality, individually tailored care support services that improves the lives of carers, the people they care for and their families. 

• Martineau Gardens 
  Martineau Gardens is an urban community garden operating for over 25 years, providing local and wider communities with a safe and welcoming space enabling adults, young people, and children to connect with each other, with nature and improve their wellbeing. It also provides free long-term social and therapeutic horticulture programmes for adults and young people with a wide range of support needs. 

• New Heights Warren Farm Community Project 
  New Heights Warren Farm Community Project meets the needs of vulnerable adults and children in the Kingstanding area in North Birmingham. 

• Ricnic 
  RicNic is a theatre charity that aims to empower young people by providing free access to theatre arts projects. 

Wales 

• Students Organising for Sustainability
  SOS-UK is a charity created by the student movement in 2019 in response to the climate emergency and ecological crisis. It exists to support students to be the change that society urgently needs to get us out of the climate emergency and ecological crisis, and to deliver climate justice. Making sustainability more inclusive is a key aspect of SOS-UK's work. 

• Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel 
  Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel is a network of African communities in Wales applying the lived experiences, skills, capacity and knowledge found within Welsh African diaspora communities for the benefit of all. It does this by implementing development initiatives in Wales and across Sub-Saharan Africa. 

• The Sanctuary Trust 
  The Sanctuary Trust aims to relieve and prevent homelessness, by addressing the many underlining reasons why people become homeless, whilst taking immediate actions to help people secure safe and affordable accommodation. It has two core objectives: to provide compassionate landlord services to 1000 households; and to add value to the areas it operates in by supporting grassroots groups develop inclusive communities. 

• Welsh Dee Trust 
  The Welsh Dee Trust is an environmental charity with the objective of ensuring a river Dee is free of pollution and full of wildlife. Its focus is on delivering tangible conservation interventions on the ground, with its work split into five programmes, each tackling specific problems, such as agricultural and other sources of pollution.