23rd November

Over 160 people attended the annual Guild Care Staff and Volunteer Awards which were held at Our Lady of Sion School on Wednesday 21^st November.

This year’s event was bigger than ever with 36 awards given out on the night to celebrate the outstanding people that work at and support the charity, helping to run its three care homes, home care and 30 other community services.

The evening also acknowledged the long service of a number of staff and volunteers who have been with Guild Care for 15, 20, 25 and 35 years.

The Mayor of Worthing presented the Haviland House Service Award to Atlanta Harris and the town crier, Bob Smytherman, whose late mother was a resident at Guild Care’s Caer Gwent nursing home, was the master of ceremonies.

Atlanta Harris, winner of the Haviland House Service Commitment Award, with the Mayor of Worthing

Amongst the winners were Roy Dew, 85, Volunteer of the Year who has been supporting Guild Care for over 22 years. The Outstanding Individual Award went to Aaron Wilson, who is the organisation’s gardener, and the Guild Care Star Award went to Wendy Coombes of the Home Care Team. Other awards went to the retail team, maintenance and the CEO Award was presented to Jackie Kerr who was instrumental in the smooth running of the merger between Guild Care and Worthing Scope.

Jackie Kerr, winner of the CEO's Award, with Suzanne Millard and Allan Reid

Suzanne Milliard, CEO of Guild Care, said, “This event is all about celebrating the achievements of the wonderful people who work for or support Guild Care. We simply wouldn’t exist without these very special people who help us run all our services. It was wonderful to see so many of them at the event and hear about the amazing work that everyone is doing.

“This is our 85^th year and it’s been a busy one for us as we joined forces with Worthing Scope. The health care sector is a challenging environment to work in at the moment and as an employer we recognise how difficult life can be when working within care. However, our ambition over the next few years is to be an outstanding provider of care as well as employer, and we can’t achieve that without our 600+ staff and 250+volunteers. So this evening is our way of being able to say thank you.”