Making a difference on the Oak Road Estate

Last week saw the inaugural "Val Joy Community Awards" event at David Salomon's Centre in Tunbridge Wells (http://www.tchg.org.uk/news.php?page=view&item_id=48). Hosted by the Town and Country Foundation, the awards are named after local Sherwood resident Val Joy, who sadly died last year.

Categories were Community Group of the Year, Community Champion of the Year, Volunteer of the Year and Young Volunteer of the Year. On the night, the CORE group (Community of Oak Road Estate) scooped the major prize - Community Group of the Year. The photo above shows Zena and Dave from CORE with their award at yesterday's TN2 Fun Day.

As I said when I wrote to congratulate them, it was no surprise to me. Working out of the changing room block on the Colebrook Recreation Ground that I managed to get refurbished back in 2002, the tiny group of volunteers headed up by Dave and Zena have organised events, parties, activities for local kids and fundraisers - only last month they organised an event to raise money for little Karl Richardson http://kevinlynes.blogspot.com/2008/05/sweet-shop-for-day.html

I've been happy to fund lighting and sound equipment, and more recently a bouncy castle from my KCC Member Grant for CORE, because they take their role very seriously - they're well organised, well attended and passionate about making a difference on the Oak Road Estate.