Yorkshire Awards 2006 Winners

Published: 1/12/2006

Yorkshire greats from the field of showbiz, sport, the arts and business are honoured in a star-studded Yorkshire Awards presentation ceremony, held at the Hilton Hotel in Leeds tonight (1/12/06).

The Awards, organised and run by The Yorkshire Awards Committee are now in their 18th anniversary year and involve some of the region’s leading companies and organisations. With the help of the Yorkshire public, the Committee named those outstanding individuals whose examples act as inspiration to anyone with the interests of Yorkshire at heart.

The 2006 Yorkshire Awards winners are:

Richard Whiteley Special Award
Winner: Sharon Beshenivsky (posthumously)
Presenter: Kathryn Apanowicz and Clare Wilson, Development Manager - Northern Region, npower renewables
Presented to: Chief Superintendent Sarah Brown, head of West Yorkshire Police’s Bradford South Division
Award Sponsor: npower renewables

The Richard Whiteley special award goes posthumously to a brave young woman who made the ultimate sacrfice. The shooting of Bradford policewoman Sharon Beshenivsky shocked the whole nation. The mother of four was gunned down at point blank range whilst answering an emergency call at a travel agents just over a year ago. PC Beshenivsky was just half an hour away from the end of her shift. She was looking forward to going home to celebrate her daughter´s fourth birthday. Bradford came to a standstill as her funeral cortege made its way through the streets and her family, her colleagues and the people of the city paid their respects to a brave young woman who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Yorkshire Unsung Hero Award
Winner: To be announced on the night
Presenter: Kevin Rodgers, Community Relations Regional Manager, npower
Award Sponsor: npower

There are three nominees for the Yorkshire Unsung Hero Award. Our first nominee is part-time bus driver and mini market owner Inderpal Randhawa. Since arriving in Huddersfield in the early nineteen eighties, he has worked tirelessly for the Sikh community. Second nominee councillor Natalie Warriner has worked for her community in Pickering, North Yorkshire, for the last thirty years. She received an MBE in 2005 and has raised thousands of pounds for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Thirdly, Cyril Villiers from Leeds has been nominated for his dedication to promoting sport. He set up the Yorkshire and Humberside fund for gifted and talented sports persons in 1977. And, since then, with his wife Joan, has raised £1.8 million for the organisation.

Yorkshire Business Enterprise Award.
Winner: Severfield-Rowen plc
Presented to: Peter Levine, chairman of Severfield-Rowen plc
by John Dakin, director of broking, Aon
Award Sponsor: Aon Limited

From humble beginnings Severfield Rowen plc is now recognised as being the leader in its field, supplying and erecting fabricated steelwork - prestigious and award winning projects it has worked on include the Millenium Dome, the Oval, Heathrow´s Terminal 5, and Arsenal´s new Emirates Stadium. The business was formed as a partnership in 1978, with a handful of employees. Today joint founder John Severs remains at the helm of the company, based in Dalton, near Thirsk in North Yorkshire, with its workforce of around 1,200.

Yorkshire Arts and Entertainment Personality Award
Winner: Chris Moyles (his mum & dad Vera & Chris Moyles will receive the award on the
night)
Presenter: David Croft, managing director, ITV Yorkshire
Sponsor: ITV Yorkshire

The nation´s most popular DJ started his radio career at the age of 16 on Aire FM, here in Leeds. And Chris Moyle’s hometown still has a special place in his heart. After working on various radio stations, Chris landed at London´s Capital FM, where he took the city by storm. Part motormouth, part loveable rogue, his no-holds barred approach soon brought him to the attention of Radio 1 bosses. In 2004 Chris took over the Breakfast show, officially becoming the saviour of breakfast radio. Around 7.6 million people wake up to his Radio 1 breakfast show every day.

Yorkshire Sporting Achievement Award
Winners: Neil Warnock
Presenter: Peter Charlton, Editor, Yorkshire Post.
Award Sponsor: Yorkshire Post

The winner of this year´s Yorkshire Sporting Achievement Award is a man who´s both colourful and controversial - goodness knows what the Premership is making of him this season! He´s Sheffield United´s biggest fan and also their manager. He is, of course, Neil Warnock. He took over as manager of the Blades seven years ago and is currently the sixth longest serving manager in league football. Warnock was born in Sheffield and is a lifelong fan of the Blades. He played himself for Chesterfield, Rotherham United, Barnsley and York, to name but a few clubs making a total of 326 appearances in an eleven year playing career.

Yorkshire Lifetime Achievement Award
Winner: Ashley Jackson
Presenter: Keith Madeley, chairman of The Yorkshire Society
Sponsor: The Yorkshire Society

The Yorkshire Lifetime Achievement Award goes to artist Ashley Jackson from Holmfirth, near Huddersfield. Since opening his first gallery back in 1963, he has become one of the country´s leading and most successful landscape watercolourists. His unique evocation and distinctive paintings of brooding moorlands have become synonymous with Yorkshire and in particular the moors above and around Holmfirth. His works have been exhibited worldwide and adorn the walls of many successful and famous people, from politicians, to actors, from Tsars to Princes. Ashley was honoured when the former President of of America, Bill Clinton, an avid art collector was presented with an origianl watercolour. Ashley throughout his career has always been an ambassador for the arts. He has strived to encourage people not just to take up art but to appreciate the beauty of the landscape around us.

Yorkshire Awards Woman of the Year
Winner: Jane Tomlinson
Presenter: Kevin Newson, senior partner, Yorkshire Bank
Award Sponsor: Yorkshire Bank

Yorkshire Awards Woman of the Year is charity fund-raiser Jane Tomlinson. Jane, who´s from Leeds, has advanced breast cancer. Yet since the mother of three was diagnosed six years ago, she´s gone on to raise more than £1.1 million for cancer charities. She´s the only person with incurable cancer to complete a full Ironman. She´s run the London marathon three times, the New York marathon and three London Triathalons. Her ride across America this summer, said to be the greatest endurance feat ever to be attempted in the World by someone with terminal cancer, raised £160,000 alone.

Yorkshire Awards Man of the Year
Winner: David Jones, former chairman of Next
Presenter: Paul Theakston, managing director, Black Sheep
Award Sponsor: Black Sheep Brewery

Yorkshire Awards Man of the Year has been described by Hollywood actor Michael Fox as a true inspiration. He’s David Jones, the former chairman of Next, who’s risen to the very top of the retail ladder – despite living with Parkinson’s disease for the past 24 years. David, originally from Worcestershire, has made Yorkshire his adoptive home for more than 30 years. He began his career in retailing at the age of 17 when he applied for a temp job with Kays mail order firm, before moving onto Great Universal Stores, Grattans, and eventually becoming chief executive of Next in 1988. Under his leadership Next became the Retail success story of the 1990s. And all this all the more remarkable because David kept the fact he had Parkinsons disease a secret from the business world for 20 years.