Environmental oscar winners

Several St. Helens organisations are celebrating after scooping awards in the annual Merseyside “environmental Oscars”.

The Groundwork Merseyside Environmental Awards were set up eight years ago to give  community groups, businesses, schools and public authorities the chance to demonstrate that they are playing their part in environmental excellence and to celebrate their achievements. 

Judges said that this year’s entries were of the highest quality ever and representatives from St. Helens were among those invited to the awards ceremony at the Liverpool Crowne Plaza Hotel.  

In the Business Awards section, St. Helens Council’s pioneering Eco Lab was the outright winner of the Public Sector Community Stewardship Award.  The Eco Lab promotes and encourages education for sustainable development across the Borough and has taken its waste, water and energy efficiency message to many nurseries, schools, churches and community and voluntary groups.

The Council’s Connect Four project was named runner-up.  It helps to bridge the generation gap by bringing together people of different ages and cultures to work as a team developing health initiatives and other projects such as one which advises people how to keep warm in their homes on a budget.  

The Helena Housing Building Services for Reducing, Removing and Recycling Housing Waste and the Council’s town centre Needle project were both shortlisted.

In the Community Awards, Central Link Children’s Centre’s Kitchen Garden Project was a runner-up.  In partnership with Age Concern and the Youth Offending Service, it has transformed a kitchen garden at the Mansion House back to its former glory.  Also runners-up were Harlow Allotments and the PACE Pupil Referral Unit.  Harlow Allotments brings together young and old and provides disabled people with the chance to get involved with outdoor activities by developing allotments for local families.  PACE developed an organic project which gave its pupils the chance to restore abandoned allotment sites.  This helped to boost their self-esteem and encouraged them to take up new interests.

Shortlisted were St. Theresa’s and All Saints Community Groups’ Connect Four scheme, Rainhill High School’s Cycle of the Christmas Tree news report and the Pilkington Family Trust’s Growing Together project. To find out more about the environmental awards go to

www.groundworkmerseysideenvironmentalawards.co.uk  For more information about the projects named in this press release please contact the Council's Press and PR Office on 01744 456165/456166

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Press release issued: February 12 2007