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Leicestershire Cares, the award-winning local charity, hosted its annual celebration at Winstanley House in Leicester on 17 June 2025 to recognise local businesses for their volunteering contributions.
The awards honour individuals and businesses who have gone above and beyond for the charity’s projects.
Winners included:
Championing Care Experienced Young People Award:
Hinckley & Rugby Building Society
Business In Education Award:
CGI
Education Volunteer of the Year Award:
Denise Bradshaw - Hinckley & Rugby Building Society
Community Impact Award:
Haymarket Shopping Centre
Impact Through Giving Award:
Cambridge & Counties Bank
Youth Justice Award:
Everards
SEND Empowerment Award:
Everards
Young Peoples Champion Award:
Nathan Hurst - Walker & Son - a division of Samworth Brothers
Rising Star 2025 Award:
Lauren Peace - The Watches of Switzerland Group
Volunteer of the Year Award:
Jenny Hailes - Everards
Business Member of the Year Award:
Nelsons Law
During the awards ceremony, the audience also heard from guest speaker, Grace Strong, T/Head of Prevention, Leicestershire Police and Strategic Director, Violence Reduction Network; along with members of the charity’s Joining Up Joining In young people’s group; Sam White, Career Lead at Babington Academy; and DJ from the Golden Token Youth Hub.
Speaking about the Business member of the Year Award win, Danielle Young, Partner & Solicitor at Nelsons said: "We are absolutely thrilled and humbled to win the Business Member of the Year Award 2025. It is our pleasure and honour to be able to support the wonderful team at Leicestershire Cares and to work with so many incredible communities, and we are truly grateful for this recognition of our input.
“The communities and particularly the young people Leicestershire Cares support are an inspiration to us and make it so easy for us to want to get involved. We’ve enjoyed many years as a Business Member and look forward to many, many more still to come. We’d like to extend heartfelt thanks to every one of the team at Leicestershire Cares who work tirelessly to bring these projects to life and are so engaging and passionate about what they do.”
Neil Morjaria, Director - Consulting, Web & Mobile Application Development at CGI commented: “It’s a real honour for CGI to receive the Business in Education award from Leicestershire Cares. This recognition reflects the dedication of our incredible volunteers who give their time to support mock interviews and help prepare local students for the world of work. Personally, I’ve been involved with Leicestershire Cares for many years, and I continue to be inspired by the positive impact we can have when businesses engage meaningfully with their communities. We’re proud of this partnership and look forward to continuing our support - and encouraging even more CGI partners to get involved.”
Denise Bradshaw, Executive Assistant to the CEO at Hinckley & Rugby Building Society added: "I am incredibly honoured to receive the Education Volunteer of the Year award. It has been a real privilege to support such enthusiastic, engaged, and motivated young people. The opportunity to contribute to young people’s journeys through their education has been deeply rewarding for me, and I’m truly grateful for the nomination and delighted by the win!”
Dean Cross, Centre Manager at Haymarket Shopping said: "I was absolutely honoured to win the Community Impact Award, when there are so many other individuals and organisations who support this amazing organisation. Our work with Leicestershire Cares is all about supporting the young people they work with and if we can make a small positive difference to some of the young people then our efforts have been more than worthwhile."
Jenny Hailes, HR Assistant at Everards said: "Leicestershire Cares Celebration evening is a great way for showing their appreciation of all the support that all the volunteers and business members give them over the year. It’s an honour and a privilege to be nominated, but to win is very humbling as everyone is a worthy winner, as we all want to do the best for them and all the young people they support. Everards have been supporting Leicestershire Cares for 25 years as it is very close to all the people and the family’s heart.”
Lauren Peace, Senior Communications Executive at Watches of Switzerland Company Limited said: "Winning the Rising Star award at the Leicestershire Cares celebration evening is such a privilege. Being from Leicester, I feel fortunate to be able to work with Leicestershire Cares as part of my everyday role and know that our company is supporting those in our community. I look forward to seeing our relationship grow and increasing the hours of volunteering we can contribute.”
Kieran Breen, Chief Executive of Leicestershire Cares said: “The evening showed that across our county and city, the business community is committed to supporting young people and community groups to bring about positive change. If we can build on these connections and goodwill, and continue to work in creative partnerships, without ego, silo or logo, then great things are possible.”