Bassetlaw Community Voluntary Service, based on Priorswell Road, marked the occasion by highlighting the work of several women from the area who have gone above and beyond for others and charitable causes.
1. Marzena Karp
Marenza is originally from Poland and has lived in the UK for 17 years.
She is a voluntary trustee for Bassetlaw Community Voluntary Service.
Since her arrival to this country back in 2004 she has been involved in working for the Polish community and has helped many people deal with a variety of formalities following their settlement in the UK . She was then approached to take on the language cafe project that was focused on providing language support for Eastern European migrants in order to enable social cohesion and boosting their confidence. She was also delivering Little Language Learners sessions for the migrants and their toddlers within the Sure Start setting. This programme was later introduced to schools in Worksop where it has been continued since 2015 to support the EAL (English as an Additional Language) pupils with their language skills.
She said: "The whole team at BCVS works extremely hard to ensure the objectives are met and it’s an absolute pleasure for me to be able to be watch the organisation grow and develop new ideas. It is also a huge learning curve for me".
Marzena's female role model is her grandmother who she says shaped her personality and played a huge role in her upbringing. Photo: submitted
Tracey started volunteering for Bassetlaw NCT 25 years ago and has been involved in singing groups, hosting meetings, organising playgroups and the Nearly New Sales that take place twice a year. Tracey said: "The NCT brought me together with friends with children of a similar age, and these remain some of my greatest friends to this day". The NCT charity supports new mothers for the first 1,000 days - and beyond - after giving birth, supporting new mothers who are at their most vulnerable, and campaigning for better maternity services. The local fundraising at Bassetlaw NCT supports these national initiatives. Tracey and her family have also fostered over 30 children. Photo: submitted
Annie is the volunteer coordinator at BCVS and organises everything that involves the volunteers needed to help charitable organisations and community groups going.
Annie couldn't pick a single role model as her female role model because she loves to champion real women that have been through real life problems and overcome them to be the best version of themselves. She said:"Any woman (or man) that has been through something terrible, but come out the other side as a stronger and more resilient person is an inspiration to me. That is why I love my job, because the volunteers and the people I work with inspire me every day." Photo: submitted
Sam's son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes aged three. He is now 14 and a junior kart track racing driver.
Sam has always been passionate about not letting Andrew's condition affect his dreams.
Since his diagnosis, Sam and her family have raised £20,000 for Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund by running marathons, hosting tea parties, arranging raffles and much more.
As well as this, Sam and her family also host children from the village of Koreston, close to Chernobyl in Ukraine during the summer holidays.
When asked who her female role model was, Sam's said: "All the women in Ukraine are in my thoughts right now.
"The mothers, the wives, the grandmas - all of them. They are having to live through unimaginable pain and make decisions none of us ever want to make. It really puts life into perspective and I just they hope are all going to be OK." Photo: submitted