Celebrating Jacky McShane: Volunteer of the Year at the Community Spirit Awards

We are proud to share that Jacky McShane, one  of our amazing members in Calderdale has won the volunteer of the year award at Community Foundation for Calderdale Community Spirit Awards!

Now if you have had the honour of meeting Jacky you would be aware he doesn’t like pictures or to be the centre of attention. However, we believe that this is something to really celebrate as he certainly deserves this award for all his hard work.

Jacky is a key volunteer and support to Leeds GATE and Gypsy and Traveller people across Calderdale, and is often the friendly face new people see when they get involved with us for the first time in the region  A few years ago when Jacky joined our weekly groups, he  quickly became someone our team could rely on.

Jacky is always there to check in on people, in particular, those who are needing a friend. He especially helps those who may feel isolated by arranging transport so there are no barriers preventing people attending the groups. Each week he arrives early to help set up and even stays late to help clean up after our groups. Jacky’s presence always makes people feel welcome and included.

As many of you may know, our work in Calderdale, including our weekly members groups, is now based at   Mixenden Activity Center or also known as MAC. Jacky was actually the first person to discover MAC as a brilliant community base for Leeds GATE, Thanks to him we now call this our home in Calderdale. He is a credit to have supporting us: he attends meetings, shares lived experiences and talks openly about his mental health experiences, so others feel understood.

Jacky is also one of the key drivers of our culture and heritage work across Calderdale, spotlighting Gypsy and Traveller heritage through helping our events run smoothly, welcoming anyone and everyone as well as sharing his skills in multiple crafts.

It’s because of all this and more that we were so happy to have Jacky nominated by Community Foundation for Calderdale for the Volunteer of the Year award, and then for him to go on and win!

At the award ceremony he was brilliant: he got on the stage to accept his award with no rehearsed speech and no notes. It was just Jacky, showing how much he cares and how much he wants to help people and share his culture with a wider audience.