The extraordinary efforts of council staff who rose to the challenge to ensure services were delivered during the coldest winter in 30 years have been recognised by the council’s chairman and chief executive.
The council’s Winter Heroes Awards saw council employees nominate colleagues who they believed went over and above the call of duty during the extreme weather. A huge number of nominations were received for individuals and teams.
“At a time when public sector workers are in the spotlight, the Winter Heroes Award brings into focus how highly motivated and conscientious our workforce is,” said Jeremy Patterson, PCC chief executive. “The nominations were judged by Councillor Gary Banks and myself and we both found it a difficult and humbling task.”
“All of the nominations received were worthy of great praise” added Councillor Banks. “All our staff should be extremely proud of their efforts over the winter period and be assured that their hard work did not go unnoticed and was greatly appreciated.”
In the Best Team Effort category, Radnor Domiciliary Care Team and Hafren School in Newtown were both highly commended, with Gareth Jones and David Evans from Llanfyllin Highways receiving the runner-up award. The highways department was the winner.
Not only did the highways department do an exceptional job , but they also stepped in and provided help to other council services, providing vehicles and drivers to help social workers carry out their duties, and picking up prescriptions and helping with medical emergencies.
Delyth Lewis, a learning support assistant, was highly commended in the individual awards category. John Richards, a meals on wheels’ driver from Brecon, and Charlie Bass, a supervisor in the highways department in Pen-y-Bont were joint runners-up.
The winner of this category was Peter Shuker, who works at the Kirkhamsfield depot in Newtown, and was on call during Christmas and New Year when there was an exceptional demand for his services in vehicle maintenance.
Breakdowns often happened in the middle of the night in freezing and snowy conditions, but without fail, he got each one fixed so that the drivers could carry on gritting.