A social worker who climbed a drainpipe to save a woman’s life, and two streetcare staff who saved their colleague’s life, were among the winners at the council's Staff Awards this year.
The annual event saw 400 members of staff in attendance, with 37 members of staff/teams recognised and awarded.
The Frontline Hero award was won by two Aragon workers who performed CPR on their colleague’s life for 15 minutes following a massive heart attack. Their efforts saved the man’s life and he presented the members of the staff with their award, expressing that he would not be alive today without their heroism.
A social worker was awarded Highly Commended for the same category. Upon a visit to a home, this member of staff had suspicions that a family member had possibly taken an overdose. While locked outside with no way of getting in, he climbed up a drainpipe to access the open window. He then found an unconscious parent who had taken an overdose and responded with first aid, calling an ambulance and protecting the child from seeing their parent in this position.
The council’s Access to Resources Team, which works tirelessly to find appropriate placements for children when they come into care, was awarded Team of the Year. Often, they work in a very time pressured environment where placements need to be found quickly, matching the child's needs with a home that can be supportive of them.
The Rising Star Award was given to an officer who helps children who are open to Youth Justice Services access appropriate education, training or employment, with judges recognising the time this officer spends hearing and advocating for the child’s voice.
Councillor Dennis Jones, Leader of Peterborough City Council, said “It’s never lost on me the sheer breadth of services that we provide for our residents and the city, to care, support and create more and better opportunities for everyone. I was lucky enough to attend both the Staff Awards and the Civic Awards on the same day, so it’s never been clearer to me how much hard work goes into creating and maintaining our city of opportunity.”
Three Chief Executive Special Commendations were awarded including the CCTV team which consistently goes above and beyond as their work stretches far beyond monitoring cameras — they are proactive in preventing crime, supporting law enforcement, tackling environmental issues, and handling emergency out-of-hours services.
Another special commendation was to someone who played an instrumental role in helping to manage community tensions during last summer's disorder. Whilst Peterborough did not see any riots, tensions within the city were high and easily could have escalated into violence. Through her excellent on the ground intelligence and relationships with community leaders, the council and police were able to swiftly respond to any emerging issues and rumours and ensured that the evening remained peaceful with no arrests or significant issues.
Matt Gladstone, Chief Executive of Peterborough City Council, who hosted the awards ceremony, said: “Many of the nominations demonstrated how our staff are going above and beyond in so many ways, whether it's keeping people safe, attracting investment to the city, or keeping the city moving. We have a huge amount to achieve to deliver a city of opportunity for all, and these awards showed that we have a fantastic workforce committed to delivering what is set out in our Corporate Strategy. My heartfelt thanks go out to our sponsors, without whom the event could not have happened.”
The awards are entirely funded by our generous sponsors, who also presented three of the categories that were most nominated for:
Opus People Solutions Ltd - Leader of the Year
M Group - Team of the Year
City Group Security - Your Peterborough Star
Their support ensures we can celebrate these inspiring achievements.
A full list of the award winners can be found here.