As we approached Heythrop for this year’s WOBA ceremony as a finalist, we felt as though we’d already won – our staff team tickets had been generously sponsored by local businesses and supporters (Ind-Tech Ltd, Parkers Witney, Timms Wealth Management, Catherine Openheimer, PGMC) meaning a very lucky 7 could attend and we had been given an incredible opportunity to network with local people and businesses, to spend the night talking about what we do, why we do it and the people we do it for. We were already feeling sorry for the ears we were about to talk off…

The venue was set out beautifully, we felt so lucky to be there under those shiny red WOBA lights, and dressed to impress we made our way to table number 5! At 9:30pm the awards section of the evening began, and the atmosphere was electric – everyone had enjoyed a delicious meal, people’s ears were almost talked off and the awards ceremony was to begin…

We want to recognise everyone in attendance, each and every finalist and congratulate them for their achievement in being there. To become a finalist takes a lot of work – without the staff and volunteers on the ground, without the projects and services we run we wouldn’t have been there. Without the continuous support from the local community, funding and fundraising to keep our services and organisation going, we wouldn’t have been there. Without the commitment of staff in writing the application, conveying what is our projects and services do and how much they mean in words, we wouldn’t have been there.

Our becoming finalist was already an incredible achievement and we were so happy to have been recognised for our work within the local community as a finalist, winning the award would have been the icing on an already delicious cake…so you can imagine the sheer and total joy felt when Guideposts was announced as the Everyman Legal Charity Award 2019!

Thank you #GuidepostsCommunity! We’ll leave you with a few words from a couple of our beaming Guideposts Oxfordshire Community Opportunities team , Kelly & Tim, pictured below;“Thank you WOBA and the West Oxfordshire Community! We are delighted to have won WOBA Charity of the Year 2019, this award highlights and illustrates the importance of our current day services and provides a great stepping stone in helping us support more people across the county as we continue to grow our Oxfordshire services.”
Tim Hooper, Guideposts Oxfordshire Community Opportunities Services Coordinator

“The Oxfordshire Community Opportunities team are absolutely delighted to have won in the WOBA Charity Award this Friday. The team have worked incredibly hard over the last year, working at evenings and weekends to promote our services and engage with the community. Our team of staff and volunteers take on jobs above and beyond to keep our costs to a minimum, from decorating rooms to moving furniture, etc. Our dedicated staff and volunteers all care intently for all of those that use our services, by adopting a person centred approach.

We are thrilled that Guideposts hard work has been recognised at this year’s West Oxfordshire Business Awards. We all felt very privileged to be a part of the event – not just on the night, but throughout the whole process! We have met some amazing people on the way, including the judges and the WOBA panellists. The run-up events not only provided members of the team with a jolly good time, but facilitated us with important networking opportunities. We’ve made a lot of new contacts since the 2019 WOBA launch…and are so grateful many are now supporters of our work – thank you #GuidepostsCommunity!
Kelly Gough, Guideposts Oxfordshire Community Opportunities Manager