Recognising our volunteers at the Impact Awards

We hope you were able to join us last Thursday (30 November) when we came together to celebrate the impact our volunteers make and recognise outstanding individual contributions.

The star-studded event was hosted by comedian and MS Society Ambassador, Ivo Graham and live streamed on Facebook and YouTube. Thanks to our judging panel, those of you who tuned in, and to those who nominated a volunteer/local group for going above and beyond. And of course, our deserving volunteers who were finalists and winners!

On the night, we shared 19 inspiring finalist stories from six award categories. Each was unique and showed the variety of support that our volunteers provide to our MS community. From these, we announced six winners with the help of some special celebrity supporters. Thanks to our brilliant musicians – An Evening With, and Jack Frimston who performed his heartfelt song, A Team of Two.

A word from our host

In particular, we want to thank Ivo Graham who hosted the awards seamlessly, with panache and plenty of humour. Ivo said: “I was very honoured to be asked to host the Volunteer Impact Awards. I knew that it was going to be a special night and we were going to hear a lot of amazing stories. We had rehearsed it a bit on the day but I was still very surprised by how overcome at points I was by the emotion in the room and the pride and love being expressed by the winners and the various contributors. I can truly say I don’t think I’ve ever felt as plugged into the MS community and the amazing work being done as I was tonight.”

Each of our six award categories had finalists chosen by our judging panel. They were shortlisted from all the Impact Award nominations we received since last year’s event. For more details on why our finalists and winners were chosen, visit the website.

Each award was presented by a celebrity supporter of the MS Society via video message. So, without further ado, here are our finalists and winners!

Category: Supporting and Empowering

Announced by TV personalities, Laurence and Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen

Winner

• Jo Newall (Lead Support Volunteer, Milton Keynes Group)

Finalists

• Ann Read (Finance Volunteer, Scunthorpe Group)
• Tony Cardis (Group Coordinator, York, Ryedale and District Group)

Category: Informing

Announced by singer/songwriter, Emeli Sandé

Winner

• Barry and Emma MacDowell from Kinmylies, Scotland

Finalists

• Phoebe Day from Winchester
• Amy Hinds from Dartford
• Simone Bell from Dudley

Category: Sharing Skills and Expertise

Announced by DJ, Scott Mills

Winner

• Siobhan Allister, Fermanagh Group

Finalists

• Stuart Secker from Surrey

Category: Influencing

Announced by actress, Nicola Walker

Winner

• Mike Matulewicz (Group Coordinator, Preston Group)

Finalists

• Terri Attwood (Group Coordinator, East Cumbria Group)
• Sabrina Fox (Group Coordinator, Scunthorpe Group)

Category: Fundraising

Announced by Hairy Biker, Dave Myers

Winner

• Gary Rushworth from Cumbria

Finalists

• Geraldine Cowe (Fundraising Events Volunteer, Sutton Group)
• Frank Matthews (Fundraising Volunteer, Hastings and Rother Group)
• Stuart Dawson from Dorset

Category: Connecting

Announced by actor, Delroy Atkinson

Winner

• Bradford and District and Skipton, Craven and Keighley Volunteers

Finalists

• Nikoma Bell from Dudley
• Siobhan O’Hanlon from Omagh

Watch the awards

If you missed the awards, or just feel like celebrating our volunteers again, you can watch the awards here.

Feedback

If you’ve watched the awards, please let us know your feedback so we can improve future events, by filling in this form.

Congratulations again to all our finalists and winners, as well as our wider volunteering community! If you’d like to nominate someone for an impact award, you can do so by visiting the website