Todmorden News

Mary Clear Wins Calderdale Council’s Employee of the Year

The popular community development officer works in communities across Calderdale, but has drawn most attention for the work she does in Todmorden. Mary was presented with the award by the Mayor of Calderdale, Cllr. Conrad Winterburn in a ceremony today (Wednesday), as part of the Calderdale One Awards, which recognise the outstanding contributions of some of the Council’s most dedicated employees.

Mary has been at the heart of a number of successful community cohesion work in Todmorden.

She has worked to strengthen links with Todmorden’s Polish community. Polish consulate officials who attended last October’s Polish Day celebration commented that they had never seen as many people from so many different social, ethnic and national backgrounds celebrating Polish Day in a British town.

Mary and her colleagues have hosted some groundbreaking visits to Calderdale from Polish civic representatives, criminal justice and social services officials.

Mary has also been a lynchpin of the Incredible Edible campaign in Todmorden, which encourages people to grow their own food locally.
This is the third year that the Council has held the Calderdale One Awards, recognising outstanding contributions made by its employees.

Awards were made in seven categories:

- Employee of the Year: Mary Clear

- Team of the Year: ICT Service

- Customer Focus:Calderdale Multi-Agency Assessment Service

- Innovation: Calderdale Road Safety Team

- Leadership: Peter Hartley, Head of ICT

- New Employee of the Year: Jenny Rose, Communications Assistant

- The Grasp the Nettle Award: Recognising the efforts of employees to cut red tape and bureaucracy while putting their customers first: The Participation Team, Children and Young People’s Serrvice

A special employee of the year award was also made to Parking Enforcement Officer, Jason Charles.

Last year, Jason was on patrol with a colleague in the Sowerby Bridge area when they noticed a window wide open and a screwdriver set aside. As they discussed what action to take, a distressed young woman appeared at the window and said there was a man in her flat. Jason made his way round to the entrance to the flats.

As Jason entered the building, along with another local resident, the assailant was trying to get out of the building. They chased and managed to restrain the man who, it emerged, had taken a samurai sword into the flat.

A further special award was made in the Leadership category to the Council’s former Head of Children and Young People’s Service, Carol White

Calderdale’s Mayor, Cllr. Conrad Winterburn, paid tribute to all of the award winners.

“This is an opportunity for us to pay tribute to our very reliable and dependable staff who give loyalty and service to the people of Calderdale.”

Visit The Incredible Edible Todmorden Website

Visit The Calderdale MBC Website