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Organiser and host Ben Oliver, left, at the Kerith awards with Andy Jackson and Helen Putterford
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Volunteers honoured at Kerith Community Awards

By Victoria Smith
March 20, 2012

Volunteers at Kerith Community Church were honoured at an awards night in Bracknell.

Unsung heroes of the community were thanked for their service to the area at a glittering awards ceremony at Kerith Community Centre.

Ben Oliver, the event’s main organiser and host, started off the night by declaring that “nothing happens here unless someone volunteers”.

The event on Sunday, March 4, featured a red carpet, glamorous outfits and a High School Musical number performed by staff at the centre to kick off proceedings.There was even an impromptu outbreak of aerobics halfway through the evening.

The annual awards ceremony was set up to thank the more than 200-strong volunteers at Kerith, who give up their time so that the bustling church can function on a day-to-day basis.

The awards came in the form of Oscar-type trophies and, in one case, a basket-load of Yorkie bars.

Categories included Unsung Hero, Outreach, Dream Team and Above and Beyond the Call of Duty.

The fundamental and wide-ranging role played by volunteers at the church was highlighted by senior pastor Simon Benham, who said: “Everything we do as a church – Foodbank, kids work, youth work, support groups for single parents and people looking for work, debt counselling, supporting families with children with special needs – relies on volunteers to make it happen.

“It was brilliant to spend an evening celebrating and thanking some of those amazing people.”

For more information on the centre in Church Road, visit the website www.kerith.co.uk

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Most recent user comments 4 of 4

Nice to see the religious extremists are getting the paper to help them pedal their propaganda.

According to this church evolution is "only a theory" and you can safely ignore it By the same token, gravity is also "only a theory" but I wouldn't ignore it if I were them.

They call it intelligent design, I call it dumb understanding.

Wiztwas, Binfield
24/03/2012 at 12:40

On a related issue....good people of get Bracknell, in the light of the latest disgusting revelations regarding the Catholic church 'castrating boys' is it not time to pass a Bill to regulate these secretive religious organisations and to disband the whole of the Catholic Church?

Lieutenant-Commander Jefferies CBE
21/03/2012 at 08:50

"featured a red carpet, glamorous outfits and a High School Musical number performed by staff at the centre to kick off proceedings"

Kerith goes Glee!

I'll stick to Black Sabbath if you don't mind.

Dame Judith Winstanley, Bracknell
20/03/2012 at 13:57

So let's be clear about this. The Church set up their own glittering awards ceremony to 'thank' their own Church volunteers who would never ever be anything else but volunteers as it is a Church. Yes it makes good press on the face of it, but it smells a little of embellishment and free advertising, especially as the 'awards' were not paneled by an independent third party. I think the comment "There was even an impromptu outbreak of aerobics halfway through the evening" suggests that their may be a little more 'religious eccentricity' to this event than first appears. Have you ever been to one of their services? 'Outbreaks' of a far more stranger kind are quite common.