Heather Prangley, from Holy Innocents Church in Kidderminster, has been awarded the British Citizen Award (BCA), which recognises our nation’s most outstanding individuals and their achievements. She was nominated for Services to Community with a citation recognising her “exceptional positive impact on society.”
Heather was nominated by Tim Williams, Rector of the Kidderminster West Team where she worships and, along with 25 other recipients, she received her medal and certificate at the Palace of Westminster. She described the occasion as a “wonderful, wonderful afternoon and evening” saying: “I am humbled and honored to receive this award. It was overwhelming to be included in a list with such worthy people. So much of what I’ve achieved is thanks to the enthusiastic support I’ve received from our church community and the wider community including local councillors.”
Heather was described in her award nomination as a ‘Community Champion,’ who is passionate about working within a team to enable things to happen and bring people together. As a life-long member of Girlguiding, Heather has always been involved in volunteer work and community service and after moving to Kidderminster in 2010, she volunteered in as the Hospital Coffee Shop and Severn Valley Railway as well as organising events for her church. She has helped the church and local community to celebrate many of the recent royal milestones and worked with schools and community groups on ‘Cribfest’, ‘Treefest’ and Starfest’, the latter involving hiring a pop-up planetarium to enable children to see the wonders of the unpolluted night sky for the first time as part of a ‘Star of Wonder’ experience. Heather has also secured funding to be able to start ‘Film Friends’, bringing local people together to watch films to combat loneliness and isolation.
Heather’s volunteering work is motivated by her faith and her belief that Jesus would have been out talking to and working with people. She continued: “Faith unites us as a church community and my personal faith gives me strength. The noticeboard at Holy Innocents Church in Kidderminster says that we are “sharing God’s love in the community” and that is what I am trying to do through all of my work.”
Photo credit: Lisa Collins, Objective HR.
