Shrewsbury church volunteer scoops award
A volunteer's mission to get children more involved in a Shrewsbury church has been recognised with a national award.
Ruth Bertenshaw was named Volunteer of the Year for the entire North region of the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) at an awards ceremony in London.
The accolade was in recognition of Ruth's commitment to her role as Learning Ambassador at St Mary's, a position she has held since last February, and she said it was a "huge honour" to be one of just three winners across the country.
Ruth fell in love with St Mary's while spending time there with her husband, Dr Derry Bertenshaw, who was rehearsing the organ ahead of the High Sheriff's Legal Service in March.
"I decided to put myself forward for volunteering - I wanted to get involved straight away," she said.
"The first thing I noticed was that there wasn't anything for the children, so I decided to create the Great Shrewsbury Mouse Hunt. The children have a trail booklet which was printed by the CCT, and when they have found them all they get a sticker as a reward."
Ruth became the CCT's first Learning Ambassador and has also organised a series of workshops and seasonal projects as part of her role with the aim of getting children more familiar with the church.
She said: "It so important as churches can be quite scary places for children who have not been brought up in that environment. It's all about making it more friendly and welcoming, we have had some great feedback so far."
A CCT spokesperson said: "Volunteers are the CCT’s greatest asset, and without their dedicated support we would not be able to fulfil our mission to care for historic churches and bring them back into the heart of their communities. At present, our volunteers number around 2000 – and we want to extend a big thank you to every one of you."
