Building Better Opportunities in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
120 people gathered at the Headland Hotel on Friday 2 November to celebrate the achievements of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Building Better Opportunities (BBO) projects funded by the European Social Fund and the National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund.
BBO projects in Cornwall and Scilly have so far supported over 2,300 people to overcome barriers to work and training and to become more confident and connected within their communities.
Ten awards were given across the five Building Better Opportunities projects, with five recognising the brilliant achievements and stories of change of individual participants as they gained the confidence, skills and experience to move into training and work
Awards also recognised project achievements in outstanding delivery, promoting equal opportunities, embedding environmental sustainability, participant involvement and invaluable role that employers play in supporting employment and skills initiatives.
The awards themselves were sculpted by three participants who discovered their talent for sculpting through the Who Dares Works project. Participants on the Game Changer project read extracts from the stories they created with Writer’s Block, winner of the Inspirational Delivery Award. Participants from each of the 5 projects took to the stage to share their inspirational stories of change.
Sue Ormiston, EU Programme Manager for the Big Lottery Fund who presented the Employer Award said: “All of the award winners should be very proud of their achievements. It is clear that funding from the Big Lottery Fund and the European Social Fund is helping people not only to transform their lives through training and work but also to improve health and wellbeing and community involvement. Congratulations to everyone involved.”
The event was compered by Daphne Skinnard of BBC Radio Cornwall with the keynote speech from Chris Hines MBE, owner of A Grain of Sand and co-founder and of Surfers Against Sewage.
Chris said: “Big congratulations to all the winners – you have inspired us all to do better and achieve more. I was pleased to see how the projects are helping build a more sustainable future – boosting equality of opportunity and getting actively involved in making an environmental difference.”