Welcome to our Winners at this years Service Children Awards Cymru 2023

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Service Children Awards Cymru

 

Massive thanks to everyone who attended this year’s Service Children Awards Cymru held at the Infantry Battle School Brecon with Veterans Awards. The Awards were sponsored by Powys County Council and in Support of Little Troopers! It was such a fantastic event with a great atmosphere in the room!

Well done to everyone who was shortlisted as finalists, we had a huge amount of applications and the shortlisting process was extremely difficult. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who put forward nominations, you are all doing amazing things in your relevant fields and you should be so proud of your achievements!

Extremely thankful and very honoured to have in attendance and hear from the CEO of Powys County Council Emma Palmer, Cllr Sandra Davies, Portfolio holder for future Generations,  Armed Forces Champion Cllr Matthew Dorrance and Major DJ Greaves from the Army in Wales.  It was also lovely to hear from Caitlin Henson, a service child talking about her experiences! A special thanks also has to go to The Band of the Prince of Wales who entertained our guests and the Regional engagement teams from the 160 Brigade and the Royal Air Force.

We are so thankful to all our supporters, volunteers and sponsors who helped put this amazing night together!

Some of the highlights of the day saw the Woodhouse Family of three boys (Luke,  Jack-Gwyn and Sion) picking up four awards between them and Riley Barn became our Service Children Ambassador of the year and our very first Service Children Awards Cymru Champion, three schools were also presented with Gold AFFS SSCE Cymru Gold Award, Ysgol Pen y Bryn, Haverfordwest High VC School and Mount Street Infants School.

We want to Inspire our future service children that great things can happen. It’s you who will act as role models and in some cases mentors, remember Positivity breeds Positivity.

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Our Winners are :

Service Children Awards Champion:   Riley Barn

 

Contribution to Sport under 11  – Sponsored by Forces Fitness Ltd

Gold – Jack Woodhouse
Silver – Ollie Evans
Bronze– Harry Moore
Bronze-Freddie Scott

 

Contribution to Sport over 11 – Sponsored by Forces Fitness Ltd

Gold – Mollie Bastock 
Silver – Luke Woodhouse
Bronze– Bleddyn Gibbs
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The Service Children Ambassador of the year  – Sponsored by Powys County Council 

Gold – Riley Barn
Silver – Beth Symmons
Bronze– Lyla McGuinness 

The Community Award Under 11 – Sponsored by Your North

 

Gold – Samridhi Gurung
Silver – Sion Woodhouse 
Bronze– Faith Lees
Bronze– Arushi Rai

The Community Award Over 11 – Sponsored by Your North

Gold -Luke Woodhouse
Silver – Cari Javis
Bronze– William Grant

Unsung Hero Award – Sponsored by General Dynamics 

Gold –Shan Kenchington
Silver – Delyth Marshman
Silver – Tara Rana
Bronze– Sarah Hayward
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Gold AFFS Cymru Awards 
Gold  – Ysgol Pen y Bryn
Gold  – Haverfordwest High VC School
Gold  – Mount Street Infants School
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We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our Shortlisted Finalists, remember its you who inspire our service children – Keep an eye out on Facebook and our social media sites for our official pictures and videos of the evening coming over the 48hrs.

Meet the Judges at the Service Children Awards Cymru 2023

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Kieran Hackney – Forces Fitness Ltd   

Kieran is a military veteran that served in the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, he now works for Forces Fitness delivering inspiring Health and well-being sessions within the education sector, Sports Teams and businesses across the UK!

He is very much looking forward to the event and seeing all these amazing people  being recognized for the great work they do!

 

Millie Taylor – SSCE Cymru Programme Manager

Supporting Service Children in Education Wales (SSCE Cymru) has a mission to provide the best possible educational support to Service children in Wales. SSCE Cymru is a Welsh Government funded programme, managed by the Welsh Local Government Association.

Established in 2014, SSCE Cymru works with all 22 local authorities across Wales to provide schools and other educational settings with a better understanding of how they can offer support to the children of Armed Forces personnel living in Wales.

Millie took over managing the SSCE Cymru programme at the beginning of 2018, with a focus on setting strategic goals and a mission that would expand the support available to Service children in Wales. As an advocate for Service children, Millie is always keen to speak with them directly and has coordinated activities to involve Service children in the work of SSCE Cymru. Millie has created many opportunities for collaboration in Wales and is always keen to share good practice with organisations across the UK.

 

Ged Murphy – Head of Concepts – General Dynamics UK  

As a veteran, Ged served across the spectrum of operations with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers before Battalion command with The Royal Welsh. Ged uses his operational and leadership experience to advise on emerging operational trends whilst providing a focus for all Armed Forces and Veterans matters. He has led the business to success as Gold Award holders in recognition of GD UK’s commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, whilst promoting the social impact that the business and the defence sector has within the community.

Ged is active across the community, supports veterans in transition and has organised numerous money raising events for a number of military and community based charities. He was successfully nominated by his colleagues for the Veteran Leader Award Wales in 2023. Ged is the proud father of Joe (17) and Pete (13) and loves spending time in the hills with his boys whenever he can!

 

Sarah Court – Specialist Teacher, Vulnerable Groups – Powys County Council

Sarah Court, who lives near Brecon, started her teaching career 30 years ago and during her time, she developed her teaching and leadership skills through a variety of teaching, senior leadership and advisory roles in the UK and around the world.  Sarah spent eleven years working for Service Children’s Education for the British Armed Forces in Germany and the rest of the world.

She currently leads the Powys County Council’s Vulnerable Groups Team, supporting schools, pupils and families from minority ethnic and Armed Forces backgrounds. She moved to Wales over five years ago and was previously part of the Supporting Service Children in Education (SSCE) Cymru team, working across Local Authorities and Schools in Wales and played an instrumental part in developing the new SSCE Cymru website and information. During the ‘Month of the Military child’ she worked with groups of Service children, creating pictures and poems, linked to the theme ‘ Friends near and far’. Some of these poems were winners in a national competition and were awarded their certificates and prizes at the Ministry of Defence building London, a great achievement. Working alongside the Welsh Rugby Union engagement team, Sarah has also developed well-being sessions in schools for Service children, using wheelchair rugby activities.

She is very privileged to be asked to be a judge at the first Service Children’s Awards and is amazed by the achievements that all Service children make with their learning, sport and well-being despite the challenges that they may face. Sarah is excited to able to celebrate their successes with the Armed Forces community in Wales.

 

Kelly Farr – Director – YourNorth 

Kelly is an award-winning entrepreneur, wellbeing trainer and veteran, with 17 years service in the Royal Air Force as an Avionics Engineer. Kelly is the co-founder of YourNorth, a wellbeing training company focusing on mental health, mindset, communication, mindfulness & happiness. Kelly is also the co-founder of YourNorth Veteran Support CIC, a not-for-profit organisation offering tailored wellbeing services for the Armed Forces community & Emergency Services.

She is very active in the community as a volunteer and co-runs Caerphilly Veterans Support Hub, and sits on the board for VAPC (Wales). Kelly also co-runs the Female Veterans Alliance; a community organisation that aims to empower and support females that have served in the UK Armed Forces.

Kelly is a huge advocate for the Armed Forces community and is so grateful for the opportunity to be involved with the Service Children Awards Cymru. She has 2 daughters, aged 14 & 4, so appreciates and understands the incredible qualities displayed by this amazing cohort.

Andy Jones –  Armed Forces Liaison Officer  – Powys County Council 

I joined the Army at the age of 16 and served in the Welsh Guards, my service included the Falkland Islands Conflict in 1982. After leaving the Armed Forces I worked in HM Prison Service mainly in London and Cardiff but incorporating being a National Instructor for Prison Staff across England and Wales. Finally ending up on secondment into the Probation Service in Wales developing an ‘all Wales’s support structure for ex Armed Service Personnel  who had come into the Justice system.

I took up the post of Armed Forces Liaison Officer (AFLO) in Powys in March 2020 just in time for the covid outbreak. All 22 Local Authorities in Wales are covered by 7 AFLO’S who promote and assist in the execution and delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant including the new Armed Forces Bill 2021.

Having worked closely with the delivery of support for Service Children in the Local Authority I fully appreciate the work that is needed and am encouraged by their fantastic commitment. It is an honour to be a part of the judging panel in the Service Children Awards.