Unsung Hero Award

Carol Adams, Head of Horticulture & Biodiversity – Trentham, Staffordshire

Carol’s dedicatation and energy to biodiversity at Trentham Gardens can only be admired. She takes projects from inception, through planning permission, to implementation and delivery, usually while setting the next one up. Passionate about accessibility and diversity, Carol is a valued all-rounder at Trentham, sharing her expertise, enthusiasm and experience on all manner of projects. Whether it be protecting white crawfish or creating an autism friendly garden. Her projects are good for the environment, flora, fauna and humans. And all the while she’s championing learning and development with volunteers and through the local community. Carol continuously works to inspire both young and old with a variety of interpretation in the garden, tours, talks and content generation for web and the marketing team.

Marie is a vital member of the Whtichurch Silk Mill team, looking after the day to day running of the shop and cafe as the Welcome Building supervisor, she really goes above and beyond every day in her role. During the height of the pandemic, whilst covering some of the Operations Manager’s role, Marie never missed an opportunity to generate income for the business. She set up and ran the takeaway café for the local community, generating over £8,000 of much needed income between January and March of 2021 in lockdown. Her hard work and efforts to engage with both the members of the staff and public has made the Whitchurch Silk Mill café an oasis for many of the local visitors, her leadership has not only provided excellent customer service but inspired the rest of the team follow in her footsteps . Whether it’s making a visit with vulnerable people more comfortable for both them and their families, or hunting for a lost engagement ring, Marie is a vital part of Whitchurch’s success.

Michael Wilson, Official Guide to the Kent Estuary - Guide Over Sands Trust, Cumbria

The Guide over Sands Trust is a charity which provides two guides, to offer safe passage across both Kent and Leven Estuaries. Michael Wilson is the official Queen’s Guide to the Kent Estuary and guides the famous Morecambe Bay Walks. It takes a huge amount of knowledge and experience to be responsible for guiding hundreds of people across the sands and as a fourth generation fisherman, working out of Flookburgh, Michael is the ideal man for the job. He took on the role as Guide in 2019 and huge interest resulted in a record breaking year in 2021 where the walks guided by Michael raised £351,000 for 36 different charities. Michael, supported by his partner Joanne and a team of 30 volunteer marshals, offers a unique experience letting walkers learn about the stories, history and wildlife of the bay. In addition they also continuously promote the walks through social media, their own website, Facebook and Instagram, supported by fabulous images and videos from every walk.