Proudly presents…

Community Project or person of the year

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

This year, we have decided to do things a bit differently. Instead of using our expert judges to decide this year’s winner of the Community Project or Person of the Year award, we want you, the public, to decide. We want to see the impact this year’s brilliant finalists have had on the Northamptonshire community.

Take a look at this year’s finalists below, watch their videos, read all about them and vote for your winner! 

THIS YEAR’S FINALISTS

Franklins Solicitors –
The Franklins £50 Challenge

The Franklins £50 Challenge is an annual three-month fundraising campaign that supports
a selection of local charities from Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes.

Businesses or community groups choose which of Franklins’ charity partners they wish
to support and form a team. Franklins then gives each team a £50 seed funding and the teams have three
months to invest and reinvest the money to raise as much money as possible for their nominated charity.

Since the challenge started in 2018, more than £135,000 has been raised. In 2024, the challenge
raised £35,733, and the number of charities supported was increased from five to eight. The theme
for the 2024 challenge was ‘Fighting Hunger, Fuelling Wellness, Changing Local Lives’. A total of 40 teams
took part in the Franklins £50 Challenge in 2024, ranging from sole traders through to large corporates.

Franklins Solicitors dedicated a huge amount of time, money and resource to planning and executing the
campaign, providing the seed funding given to teams to start their fundraising, and funding the awards
event for nearly 150 guests.

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Northamptonshire Sport –
Holiday Activities and Food Programme

Northamptonshire Sport’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme offers
free holiday clubs to disadvantaged families, complete with activities and healthy meals.

Run by a team of more than 30 passionate individuals, Northamptonshire Sport is based
at Delapré Abbey in Northampton but works across the county and with more than 50
local schools. It is a health, physical activity, sport and wellbeing charity focused on
empowering Northamptonshire people to be active and healthy.

Now in its fourth year, the HAF project was set up to promote life-long healthy eating
habits and food preparation skills. During HAF sessions, children take part in healthy
eating-themed activities to help them understand the benefits of a balanced diet.

Activities include creating health eating posters, growing fruit and vegetables, talks
about health eating and portion sizes and why we do physical activity, food hygiene
games and food preparation.

Some clubs also offer ‘recipe bags’ for families to create simple, nutritious meals
at home. Each bag contains ingredients and cooking instructions.

Local children and families who would otherwise not be able to afford days out due
to the rising cost of living are enjoying trips, sports and other activities – all within
Northamptonshire and all with healthy meals included thanks to HAF.

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Proaction Martial Arts

Founded by Chief Instructor Master Tom Nicholson in 2002, Proaction Martial Arts
has become an integral part of the Northamptonshire community and is
continuing to develop this to impact as many individuals as possible.

Proaction Martial Arts has become a relevant and committed member of the community
and local network, sharing its mission and transforming lives. Its increasing presence and
level of impact is the result of many community-focused and inclusivity initiatives, and
resilience in the face of challenges.

The organisation provides free martial arts training to local children including programmes
such as ‘Bullied2Blackbelt’ and the Education, Prevention & Reaction self-protection
course to address critical issues such as bullying and personal safety.

It has also raised over £6,000 for KidsAid Northampton, highlighting its commitment to
supporting local charities. The success of these efforts is executed by events like the
Proaction Awards Evening and Summer Fun Day.

Proaction Martial Arts is recognised and accredited by Sport England’s Safeguarding
Code in Martial Arts and the institute of children’s activity providers (ICAP),reflecting its
commitment to maintaining a safe and high-quality training environment as a community club.

Proaction Martial Arts’ achievements demonstrate its exceptional dedication to
community support, personal development, and resilience, establishing them
as a vital and influential presence within the community.

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Mark Bradshaw, Northampton College

Mark Bradshaw is Construction Curriculum Manager at Northampton College and has played
a major part in the incredible journey Northampton College has been on in recent years which
has transformed it into one of the country’s top five colleges.

Mark undertakes an enormous amount of work outside of his day-to-day role to support
community projects and charities around Northamptonshire and to embed students in the wider community.

Examples of external projects Mark has worked on with students this year alone include the
community restoration of St Katherine’s Gardens in Northampton town centre; creating a Santa’s
Grotto for Northampton BID for visitors to Northampton town centre; and working with West
Northamptonshire Council and the Churches Conservation Trust on the £3.5m restoration of
Northampton’s historic Old Black Lion pub.

Mark is also a national STEM Ambassador and this year he has developed, supported or
organised, among other projects, The Big Rig Low Carbon Challenge for six Northamptonshire
secondary schools; a workshop at the STEAM Northants careers event; and worked on a
Women in Construction event to promote the industry to students from three
Northamptonshire secondary schools.

Mark works incredibly hard at Northampton College to ensure students perform well
academically and the fact that in addition to this he supports so many projects,
community groups and good causes is truly inspirational.

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Vulcan Works

Vulcan Works provides, lettable office space, creative workspaces, meeting rooms and
co-working spaces for creative and digital businesses from the heart of Northampton’s Cultural Quarter.

The facility opened in February 2023 after West Northamptonshire Council was tasked
with restoring some disused, period properties and providing something new for the community.
The development has created 68 lettable units, including office, studio and managed
workshop space, in units ranging from 100 to 1,000 square feet.

Vulcan Works has firmly established itself as a vital part of the local business community
and economy, winning awards for innovation and its positive impact across Northamptonshire
and providing a home to more than 30 businesses.

In addition, it has also become the ‘go to’ place for co-working, meetings and events
in Northampton for the local business community and is the regular venue for The
Marketing Meetup, Entrepreneurs Circle, Digital Northants, Coworking Club and NN1 Dev Club.

Vulcan Works has also expanded its business support offering, linking up with some
trusted national partners such as Barclays Eagle Labs and NatWest, and local business
support organisations like SEMLEP, Northampton BID, NNBN and Digital Northants
to offer practical business support, networking and workshops.

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Who do you think has had the most impact?

VOTE HERE