Inspiring People
reward winners
We have been inundated with
nominations for residents who have made a big difference to their
own lives and others.
The following inspirational residents are the first of
our Inspiring People reward winners and have been allocated free
Olympic tickets to the 2012 Games.
Michael Way from Stratford was nominated by his friend and
colleague Lianne Jameson. See why Lianne thought Michael was an
inspiring person.
Michael is a Newham resident born and bred. He has also been a
coach at West Ham Amateur Boxing Club for more than 30 years.
During this time, he has trained in excess of 160 national
champions and countless international boxers. On most days, you
will find him at the club training the boys, helping them to be the
best that they can possibly be. Michael is a disciplinarian of the
first degree often jokingly referred to as the 'sergeant major'. He
instils this discipline in the boxers from a young age whilst at
the same time helping them to learn very important life skills and
gain confidence to do things they wouldn't otherwise do in their
everyday lives. At 72 he is still incredibly active and puts some
of the younger coaches to shame.
Michael is an inspiration, inspiring people everyday to do better
and teaching them right from wrong. I couldn't think of anyone more
appropriate for this award
Tony Kieran from East Ham was nominated by friend Baber
Hussain who met Tony when he began volunteering as a mentor at West
Ham United Inspire Learning. See why Baber thought Tony was an
inspiring people.
Tony started volunteering as a mentor in the learning centre in
the summer of 2010 at the age of 57. He had recently lost his job
and had not been successful in getting back into employment. He was
keen to improve his chances of finding work by improving his ICT
skills. He was also keen to take on a new challenge. Even though
Tony had been serving the community as a school councillor for many
years he had never worked with children in the role as a mentor
before. Within six months Tony became a competent ICT user,
completed his Open College Network Level 3 in Mentoring Skills and
became one of the most loved volunteer mentors in the learning
centre at West Ham United Inspire Learning. To complete his
achievements he also gained full time employment. Tony regularly
visits the centre and provides an extra pair of hands when
needed.
We are so grateful for his input, as older male role models are
extremely important for the children in Newham and we would love if
he would be selected as one of the recipients of the Inspiring
People Rewards.
These are our first set of Inspiring People winners. Think of
someone you know who has inspired you and then
nominate
them now so they too can be in with a chance of receiving free
Olympic tickets.