What a champion night! (From Croydon Guardian)

What a champion night!

12:36pm Wednesday 9th November 2005 in

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Few ceremonies honour a town's unsung heroes and bring together a charity dog, reality television stars and the police in the same room, but a gala reception on Monday did just that.

The ceremony in question marked the pinnacle of the 2005 Croydon Champions campaign, which recognises those who work tirelessly behind the scenes to serve the community and celebrates Croydon as a champion place to be.

About 150 guests attended the event at Croydon Clocktower's Braithwaite Hall which opened with a drink and buffet reception accompanied by music from Royal Russell School's chamber orchestra.

Pupils from the Brit School opened the entertainment with a dance piece and a short excerpt from Concrete, a living history play about Croydon, which brought to light the many faces of the town.

It was followed by a song from student Garry Urwin before the first of the awards was presented.

The night's winners spanned a 76-year age range, with seven-year-old Shawn Rogers picking up the Child of Courage honour and 83-year-old Stephen Thurlow winning the Charity Volunteer award for his work collecting money for the Royal British Legion.

Shawn, who is nicknamed "Flipper" for the noise he makes when he laughs, now plans to use the vouchers he received on Sponge Bob Square Pants toys.

Shawn's proud mum Natasha Rogers said: "He doesn't need to win because he's a winner in our hearts."

Croydon College student Bianca Nichols closed the first half with a moving performance of Something Inside So Strong, while former college student Sarah Latunji kicked off the second half with her own upbeat composition, It's The Way You Do Your Thing!

It was a good night for Rachel Thorne, who not only was awared Teacher of the Year but won a prize in the raffle as well.

And a representative from St Edmund's Caring Group, awarded the Croydon Champion for Team of the Year, jumped in the air when its name was announced, illustrating the significance of the Champions awards to its winners.

The South Norwood police response team who were first on the scene at King's Cross Tube station bombing on July 7 narrowly missed out on the Act of Bravery award to 14-year-old George Riccardi, who applied his kick-boxing skills to rescue a grandmother and two small children from a fire.

Sergeant Rob Spry said: "It would be nice to win, but it depends on the competition. And anyway it's about the people of Croydon not us."

The night was rounded off by The Brothers, the foursome who made it to the final 21 acts in this year's X Factor competition.

The group, half of whom hail from Croydon, missed out on performing in the programme's live shows but felt "honoured" to perform three songs for the excited audience.

So how did the night compare with performing in front of the infamous Simon Cowell?

"It's better because they actually appreciated it!" joked band member Noel Agyei.

A charity raffle raised more than £340 on the night, bringing the total raised for this year's Champions charity Croydon Carers Contact to £1,000.

Nizam Chowdhury thanked everyone involved in the Champions campaign for their support and said he wanted to dedicate the money to all the unsung heroes in Croydon the people who care for relatives or friends.

The charity will use the money to buy new equipment.