The Swindon Softball League has won a Pride of Swindon Award for making a positive contribution to the local community.
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The award was presented to the league by Sarah Troughton, the Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire, at a ceremony held on 16 March in Swindon at STEAM, the Museum of the Great Western Railway.
The league was nominated mainly for hosting the successful South-West Softball Leagues All-Star Tournament in September 2016, which raised over £1500 for the Brighter Futures Radiotherapy Appeal. The appeal was launched by a Swindon-based radiotherapy centre so that patients can be treated locally and not have to travel daily to another city.
But the Swindon League was also recognised for bringing softball opportunities to the community for the past 16 years and running high-quality training sessions throughout the year that are open to all local residents.
Long-standing Awards
The Pride of Swindon Awards have been running for the past nine years after being set up by the local Council and the editor of the Swindon Advertiser, with support from local businesses.
Sponsors include Macdonald’s, Nationwide, Voluntary Action Swindon, Swindon 105.5 FM, Intel, the Swindon Advertiser and the Positive Media Group.
The awards are designed to celebrate the work of volunteers who have made an impact on the life of the town, people who have displayed exceptional courage, young people who have become role models and employees who have gone the extra mile in providing services.
Swindon Mayor Eric Shaw said: "The Pride of Swindon Awards provide an opportunity for us all to celebrate and thank the unsung heroes of our community who give their time to make Swindon an even better place in which to live…. The judging takes place in February and it’s wonderful because we spend two hours talking about the positive things that people have done in the town.”
Fundraising effort
The money raised at the South-West Softball Leagues All-Star Tournament for the Brighter Futures Radiotherapy Appeal came from team registration, corporate sponsorship (Storm Recruitment, Chippendale & Clark, By the Book Accounting, www.thesoftballshop.com, Brother Printers, Nationwide Building Society), a raffle with prizes donated by the sponsors or by individual players and collection tins at the tournament – with home runs and ‘epic-fails’ resulting in a £1 charity donation.
The key people who made this happen were the Swindon Softball League Committee and helpers: Fiona Mounsdon, Kirsty Whiteford, Chris John, James Cable, Jen Harwood, Craig Maddock, Jeremy Bedford, Kimberly Hendry, Dave Jones and Simon Wareing, who umpired the event.
These volunteers helped organise the softball event, raffle prizes and sponsorship along with setting up the field on the day and setting up a batting cage and pitching machine to give spectators the chance to try out softball.
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The league now plans to run an Open Tournament each autumn as a charity event.
Meanwhile, the South-West Softball Leagues All-Star Tournament will hopefully continue, hosted on a rotation basis by the four leagues taking part.
