Women of the Year awards 2008 launched

Apr 15 2008

As the Daily Post launches the Women of the Year Awards 2008, Laura Davis catches up with last year’s winner

AS MARCIA HUGHES looked down at the new-born baby breathing through a ventilator she had helped to buy, she realised there could be no greater reward for her hard work.

Witnessing the difference that her fundraising has made on the lives of so many people has become one of the greatest joys of the mother-of-two’s life.

Another favourite moment, she insists, took place last June when she was named Merseyside Woman of the Year 2007.

“It was absolutely fantastic. I was there with my family and the look on their faces is what I remember most,” she recalls.

Marcia, 52, was nominated for the award because of her work as co-ordinator of the Radio Mersey- side Charitable Trust, a post she has held for nine years.

She came into the job almost by chance, when working with the A Team, the station’s community service volunteers. Before this, she was part of Liverpool Air- port’s marketing team, dealing on separate occasions with the arrival of Concorde and Pope John Paul II, but left work once her daughter, Clare, was born in 1984.

“I overheard a chance remark by Mick Ord (Radio Merseyside’s editor) about how he didn’t know if there would be anyone available to run the Charitable Trust,” says Marcia, who also has a son, 20- year-old Peter.

“I always say everything in life happens for a reason. I didn’t know of the Trust, but I was keen to take on the job.”

Set up in 1991, it is one of only six charitable trusts linked to BBC local radio stations, and raised almost £180,000 for good causes in 2006. It awards one-off grants of between £100 and £1,500, but can hand out larger sums. in exceptional circumstances.

Marcia organises fundraising events, from the annual Bluebell Ball to smaller scale fashion shows, and decides, along with the board, which groups to help.

The grants have included £399 to the Macular Disease Society, to pay for a new laptop, £1,000 to Stars Drama, a dance and drama group needing props, and £600 to Liverpool Roots Trust for software to help adults with learning diffi- culties and mental health issues.

Charitable Trust donations have been used to pay for everything from a juice holder and plastic cups for a Warrington youth club to chipboard that has been turned into railway track for model railway enthusiasts.

“One thing I love about the job is you help people of all ages. Many of the organisations we give money to would struggle to get it from other sources,” says Marcia, who lives in Woolton, where she also runs a photography business with her husband, Graham. “We are lucky to have a lot of support from people who believe in what we do.

“Having a job where you help other people is a great feeling.”

FOR further details on the Radio Merseyside Charitable Trust, contact Marcia Hughes on 0151 794 0995.

DAILY Post readers are invited to nominate people they believe deserve a Merseyside Women of the Year Award at this year’s ceremony.

Simply send us the following details: the name of the person you would like to nominate, their contact details (if available), your own name and address and, in no more than 500 words, why you think they deserve an award.

Categories range over a wide field from business and commerce and women’s group to sport and entertainment.

Send by post to Merseyside Women of the Year, Liverpool Daily Post, PO Box 48, Old Hall Street, Liverpool L69 3EB or email features@dailypost.co.uk

Alternatively, you can fill out an online form at www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/womenoftheyear

Nominations must be received by April 22.