Member Article

Businesspeople honoured at BME awards

A passionate community stalwart has received a lifetime achievement award for his work in helping people from diverse backgrounds.

Middlesbrough man Zafar Uddin was just one of a number of local people and organisations honoured at the recent Tees Valley BME Awards 2013.

The Black, Minority and Ethnic (BME) Network works with community groups, authorities, including police and councils, as well as charitable organisations to promote better understanding of different cultures and faiths.

Their awards, honouring people in the Tees Valley area, have now been going for five years, with Mr Uddin being awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award this year.

Mr Uddin, from Linthorpe, is originally from Bangladesh but has been living on Teesside for 38 years.

The 57-year-old social worker serves as a Justice of the Peace at Teesside Magistrates’ Court, is a member of the management team for Middlesbrough Mela, also the Middlesbrough Citizen’s Advice Bureau trustee board, is general secretary of the Tees Valley Bangladeshi Association and throws himself into all manner of different community projects.

Other winners included CVFM Radio, who won the Community Award - for the provision of dedicated BME programmes and opportunities for training, education and employment.

Idrees Rashid, Partnership Manager for the BME Network, said: “This annual event has become an important feature on the calendar and gives us an opportunity to recognise all those who make our communities better places for everyone.

“Picking winners in each category was difficult because all of our nominees have made very worthy contributions and we should applaud all of their efforts.

“We would also like to thank our headline sponsors Tees Valley Unlimited and Middlesbrough College for making this event possible.”

The full list of categories and winners:

• Housing Sector – Accent Group
• Community Award – CVFM Radio
• Woman of the Year – Kerrin Smith
• Youth Award – Know Your Money Project
• Community Individual Award – Jean Michel Bomvoy
• Education Award – Teesside University
• Youth Individual Award – Sherry Iqbal
• Business Person – Javed Majid
• Public Sector Award – Redcar & Cleveland Community Safety Partnership
• Business Award – Oxbridge Care Ltd
• Housing Sector Diversity Champion – Pam Walton

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .