Nicolette Nixon, Tina Clark, Mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville and Gulizar Yaldiz
HACKNEY council celebrated its unsung heroes in a ceremony at the Town Hall on 22 May. Mayor Philip Glanville presented the Mayor’s Civic Awards 2019 to three winners; Nicolette Nixon, Gulizar Yaldiz and Tina Clark.
Now in its fourth year, the Civic Awards aim to shine a light on the remarkable achievements everyday people in Hackney are doing to help make the borough a better place to live, work or study. Over 30 nominations were received this year, with tough competition to reach the final three winners.
Gulizar Yaldiz was awarded for her work for the past 11 years supporting Kurdish and Turkish communities in Hackney, she is a well-known community stalwart who is always on hand to help people, either for a quick chat about issues they may be having or helping them connect to local services. She has helped many different groups of people, from mothers at the sure start centre, to older people who are feeling isolated. Most recently Gulizar worked with women who were suffering from mental health and isolation to set up a cookery class, which helped people get together, have fun and talk over food. She also set up a lunch club for older people and works with families to get them connected to school services for any support they might need. She said: “Volunteering is a great opportunity to understand yourself and the community around you, you can see the problems people are having and see how you can help them overcome these.”
Mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville said: “It’s great to be celebrating Hackney’s community spirit and giving thanks to these three incredible women who are all active in standing up for their communities, taking action to help some of the most marginalised of our fellow citizens. The winners of the civic awards this year are so inspiring, and I hope their stories motive even more people to become active citizens, campaigners and volunteers.”
