In the last four years, since the launch of the Unsung Hero Awards in 2014, it has built up an unstoppable momentum, with over 1,100 nominees and 350 attendees involved in #UHAwards18. We have now become an independent Community Interest Company (CIC) and all set to expand further with more nominees and attendees at the event for 2019 helping to recognise outstanding performance of the NHS non-medical staff on a national scale.

The support that we have is incredible! Like minded people contact us with their ideas, put us in touch with influential members of society, organise meetings on our behalf and provide us with relevant support information, all at no gain to themselves. We even have the support of Andy Burnham (the Lord Mayor of Greater Manchester), who we recently spoke to at Confed18, and is fully behind the 2019 Unsung Hero Awards.

One specific example of this amazing support was very evident at Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust who had offered to host a professional photo shoot for us at their walk-in centre in Widnes. Adam Britton, Web Manager & eCommunications at the Trust and the UHA 2018 Finalist, commented: “Today we’ve been shooting at Widnes Emergency Care Centre, one of our Bridgewater NHS buildings. Certainly, it was good to get our staff involved and support the photoshoot. So hopefully it will look great on the UHA website and it’s going to help to promote nationally what you do, as it is a great thing to get non-clinical staff get well-rewarded and praised.”

With the steering hand of Adam, we were joined by local nurses who in a matter of moments turned out to be naturals and worked together like a team of professional models. We have long suspected that NHS workers are full of undiscovered talents. It was a pleasant surprise to see it live! The cheerful mood of our new ‘actors’, drove a positive mood throughout the event and helped us to create a true atmosphere of celebration.

Colin Boutler, the founder of Neilson Reeves Photography (best rate commercial photographer in Manchester by Three Best Rated) and a professional with over 10 years of experience, was the expert behind lens and created a composition which wonderfully captures the essence of the Unsung Hero Awards.

We even had two professionals on board who gave up their Saturday morning for free to support the photo shoot.

Emma Laidlaw is a working mum and is originally from Edinburgh and has been living and working in Manchester as a professional actress for a number of years. Having had a varied career so far ranging from outdoor Shakespeare to Crimewatch for the BBC. Her husband, Matt Lanigan, is a Manchester actor, appearing regularly in ITV’s ‘DCI Banks’ as well as in other well-known TV shows such as Emmerdale (ITV), Coronation Street (ITV) and Survivors (BBC1). Matt is also a regular on stage and has performed in a wide range of productions throughout the UK.

Most important! All the incredible people involved in the shoot helped us out of the good will!

We’ll are very grateful to each of them for giving up their valuable time to support the Unsung Hero Awards cause and help highlight the importance of the work our ‘Unsung Heroes’ do across the NHS every single day.

Keep an eye on our updates and you will see the results of our photoshoot quite shortly!

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By Tanya Prichislenko, Marketing Assistant, Unsung Hero Awards