Open Award Recognition

Patricia Whatmough, one of our volunteers at Critchley Community Hub in Swinton has received a Covid-19 Open Award in recognition of her commitment to fellow Age UK Salford volunteers during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Open Awards are officially recognising the amazing work volunteers are doing to support communities at this critical time.

We have about 50 or so volunteers and a significant number of them are over 70 and subject to the recommendations to self –isolate. 

Pat has kept in regular touch with a number of older more vulnerable volunteers and has offered positive words of encouragement to them when many are feeling uncertain and missing their normal routines and friends.

Pat started volunteering at Critchley in 2017, after her retirement.

Pat said: “I wanted to get involved with helping people. I get a lot of pleasure going to the centre and spending time with our team and talking to the people who come in. We are like one big happy family.”

I wanted to make sure we continued to regularly contact one another with the centre being closed. I’m delighted to receive this recognition from Open Awards and we’re all looking forward to getting back to Critchley when we safely can.”

We hope to be able to present Pat with her certificate in the future when Critchley Community Hub can safely re-open.