Special award to honour people who have ‘done amazing things’ during Covid-19 pandemic

Cllr Brenda Loynes, ceremonial mayor of Hartlepool Borough Council, said it would be a gesture of goodwill to honour those who have done, and continue to do, great things to support the community during the pandemic.

The idea was raised at Monday’s meeting of the civic honours committee, which also heard a moratorium has now been lifted which will allow for nominations for civic honours to take place.

Cllr Loynes called for a separate award to be set up to run alongside the civic honours, to pay tribute to people for their service during the Covid-19 outbreak.

This would include a separate award ceremony to honour their work.

Cllr Loynes said: “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, because there’s a lot of people out there who have done an awful lot throughout the coronavirus lockdown and are still doing things now for the community.

“I thought it would be very nice and a gesture of goodwill to ask for nominations from the public for people who have gone way, way beyond the usual, above and beyond.

“I think they’ve done amazing, we’ve had people dropping food off for people, they’ve done a live stream programme on a Saturday night, all night, they’ve done amazing things.

“I think we should be awarding these people and honouring them because they’ve done amazing.”

The plans for the award were backed by the committee, with council leader Cllr Shane Moore adding it was a ‘really good idea’.

Council officers also laid out how nominations will come forward for both civic honours and the additional award paying tribute to people for their efforts in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The process for nominees will see council officers advertise in resident newsletters, with a closing date to be four weeks after the publication of the newsletter.

The civic honours committee will then meet again to discuss nominations, and individuals will be consulted on whether they accept nominations.

Accepted nominations will then be submitted to the next ordinary council meeting for approval, before a special council meeting is convened to install honours on a date agreed by the ceremonial mayor.

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