I do get a little bit excited about trains – steam ones, fast ones, the Orient Express in Poirot... I love them!! ;) So, when I heard that two special people in Somerset could get a Great Western Railway train named after them, I think I simply said “wow, THAT IS AMAZING”! I mean, come on... a flipping train!!! Anyway, after picking my jaw up off the floor, I found out that it’s all about saying thank you to the people in Somerset who’ve made a real difference in their communities during the pandemic – and that made me beam.
Make a Difference Superstars Awards
This is all part of BBC Radio Somerset’s Make a Difference Superstars Awards. These very special community awards have now launched and that basically means you can nominate someone who’s done something brilliant in your neighbourhood during the past few months. It's time for the people you want to thank, to get some well-deserved recognition.
Nominate someone who you think has made a difference
I’m going to be one of three awards judges and we’d love to hear from you about the people who have got you through the difficult times, or inspired you, or made the days feel that little bit brighter.
It could be someone who’s made sure people get vital medicine when shielding, someone who’s brought you your shopping or made sure you didn’t feel lonely, or it might be a key worker who’s really gone above and beyond. There’s been some incredible fundraising going on too, so we’d love to hear about that... or maybe it’s someone who’s made your street, village or town feel that little bit closer together, despite being in lockdown.
Whatever it is, it’s all about recognising and celebrating people’s help, support, ideas, and kindness over the past few months – the stuff that’s mattered to you and got you through.
You can read more about the awards and make your nomination right here.
Don't like form filling? Don't worry!
The nomination entry form is really short and simple too. Just tell us a bit about the person you want to nominate and what they’ve done. You can also include some photos if you like.
Nominations close on August 30th at midnight, which doesn’t leave that long to get your nomination in, so head to bbc.co.uk/radiosomerset for all the info on Make a Difference Superstars.
A very special radio show
We’ll be celebrating some of the nominees on a very special awards show on BBC Radio Somerset on September 18th from 7-9pm. I’ll be co-hosting it alongside the lovely Luke Knight and we can’t wait to chat to your nominees about the things they’ve been doing. I’m guessing there’ll be some tears and laughter along the way, but what I‘m sure of is it will be very, very uplifting.
Choo choo! ;)
And of course, there’s the GWR train your nominee could get named after them. When Claire Carter spoke to Paul Gentleman from GWR on her BBC Radio Somerset breakfast show, he mentioned that only a handful of people in the West country have ever had a train named after them – so it’s definitely not something that happens every day!
As Paul said, for GWR...
“It’s all about recognising and honouring the people in the communities we serve and we’re bowled over to be able to honour two heroes with the naming of a train. Naming a train isn’t something that happens very often, but we wanted this to be really special and recognise what people have done over this pandemic ”.
Such awesome stuff... and don’t forget to head here to nominate the people who’ve really made a difference to you.
I hope we get to chat about it on air, very soon.
