STUART McGINLEY: Local Hero awards are extremely humbling

It was a truly humbling night last Friday at the Hilton, Avisford Park as we honoured more unsung heroes with Spirit FM's Local Hero Awards.

Each winner received a trophy and a £200 cash donation to the charity of their choice, as well as the memory of an amazing night to cherish.

James Morrison was our special music guest, performing four songs before the awards began and even hung around to present our first award for Child of Achievement.

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It’s our biggest event of the year and our 10 th awards night was another great success with more worthy winners and thousands of pounds raised for local charities. It’s always so humbling to meet people who have been able to deal with the worst life can throw at them, and not only do they keep on smiling, they also inspire others in the face of adversity.

One story in particular moved me, and this was the story of our Inspiration to Others Winner Tyler Murphy. At the young age of 12, Tyler was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Since then he has undergone several operations and spent a lot of time in hospital.

He’s received many cards and gifts while he was there and they really cheered him up, so he decided to set up ‘Tylers Trust’ so that he could give other children living with similar experiences a reason to smile too.

Tyler’s Trust now delivers gift boxes and balloons for children with brain tumours and other life threatening illnesses in local hospitals, as well as gifts for their siblings. Despite being very poorly, Tyler is rarely seen without a smile and is still determined to continue to make others smile too.

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He was unable to make the awards night as he is still recovering in hospital after his latest operation, so Tyler’s step dad Craig Ellis stepped up to collect the award on his behalf.

I wish Tyler all the best and hope to get to meet this inspirational young man in person one day, in the meantime you can read all about the charity and how you can help at tylerstrust.co.uk

Congratulations to all our winners and thank you for your nominations, looking forward already to 2017!

:: More mutterings on Twitter @stumcginley

:: Hear McGinley in the Morning – weekdays 6-10 on Spirit FM

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