Marsh Charitable Trust – Marsh Volunteer of the Year Award with Home-Start

Marsh Volunteer of the Year Award with Home-Start

The Marsh Award for Volunteer of the Year winner is an individual chosen as an overall winner from the Marsh Volunteer Award categories. The categories for these Volunteer Awards range from services across the whole organisation.

This Award recognises individuals who go above and beyond for others and who show their passion for volunteering with Home-Start.

The Awards that the Marsh Volunteer of the Year Award winner is chosen from are:

– Marsh Award for Home-Start Digital Volunteer of the Year
– Marsh Award for Home-Start Group Volunteer of the Year
– Marsh Award for Home-Start Visitor Volunteer of the Year
– Marsh Award for Home-Start Supporter Volunteer of the Year
– Marsh Award for Home-Start Trustee Volunteer of the Year
– Marsh Award for Home-Start Corporate Volunteer of the Year

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Helen Sharp, Home-Start North East Worcestershire 2025

Helen has volunteered for Home-Start since 1998 and has worked with over 20 families during her time and she is now 79. Helen is a constant champion for Home-Start North East Worcestershire and has covered a variety of roles over the past 26 years. She has helped the organisation to raise funds through her connections with other organisations, written letters to the newspaper and lobbied with MP’s. Helen has made a difference to the Home-start community by being steadfast and consistent with the support she provides to the scheme and the families. Helen is great at building trust with families and creating an environment where they feel safe and confident. She also previously supported a mum with terminal cancer through the pandemic with doorstep visits, taking ironing home and delivering home baked and cooked meals. Helen epitomises Home-Start’s ethos of being in it together, giving, learning, sharing and receiving.

Previous Winners

Margaret Rylands

Margaret has been a constant at her local Home-Start since 1999 and in that time has supported almost 20 families. Despite dealing with her own health challenges, she maintains that she gets more out of volunteering than she gives and is always asking to be kept busy. Her long-lasting commitment to Home-Start means that she now spends time with the children of some of the original children that she supported through home visits. It is hard to imagine Home-Start Isle of Wight without Margaret and she has been a constant support throughout the life of the scheme. She is always ready to move with the times and embrace new ideas to help the scheme develop and shares her knowledge and experience with new volunteers and members of staff as they join. Margaret is a calm and reassuring presence for parents and also has a magic touch with the little ones! She is an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on, providing parents with the encouragement they need to move onwards and upwards in their lives.

Angela Gowdy

Angela is a very spritely (not far off 92 year old) home visiting volunteer who has been with Home-Start Garioch for almost 27 years, supporting almost 30 families. She has taken on a number of volunteering roles in her time, including a variety of trustee roles and fundraising activities, but home visiting is her passion. She inspires confidence in all she meets whether they be new volunteers, parents or children. Angela quickly recognises the support that families need and fits herself in where she is needed, from taking the baby for a walk to reading a toddler a story. As a former pediatric nurse, she has a wealth of knowledge and many local Health Visitors received training from her in the past and remember her fondly. Angela shows no signs of slowing down her volunteering and is an incredibly valuable asset to the service.