In a night to remember, the best and brightest of Bracknell Forest gathered in one of the areas most prestigious locations to celebrate the men and women that make this little piece of Berkshire what it is.

After a two-year break due to Covid, The Pride of Bracknell Awards are back and bigger than ever before.

The nominees and special guests were decked out in their black tie finery ready for an evening of recognition to those inspirational individuals that represent the community and ask for nothing in return.

The event that took place in the stunning Wellington College on Friday, April 1 was attended by the likes of William Hartley Russel, the High Sheriff of Berkshire and James Puxley, the Queens personal representative for the county of Berkshire.

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Co-presenting the awards this year were self-proclaimed Bracknell boy and BBC Berkshire radio presenter Adrian Williams, and BBC radio Berkshire morning show presenter Andrew Peach.

Sean Taylor, the chair of the Pride of Bracknell Forest Awards Committee said: “No other awards better represent our community. The awards play an important role in the local area, giving recognition to those people and organisations that make our community flourish.”

The entertainment for the night included a performance by the Uplands Primary School Choir and an extraordinary half time show from Artemis College singing ‘Songs of a New World’ and ‘You will be found’ from Dear Even Hansen.

Bracknell News:

12 categories that were being honoured were, the John Nike Pride of Bracknell Forest Young Person’s and Adult Awards, school of the year, teacher of the year, sport’s and leisure young person’s award, sports and leisure adult’s award, business of the year, charity of the year, volunteer of the year, team of the year and the new lockdown stars award.

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The brand new ‘Lockdown Stars’ award was won by Andrea McCombie who during Covid tirelessly worked 14 hour days developing the 'Covid-19 community response network' which provided 15,000 jobs to the people of Bracknell Forest.

Joshua Zeller, who won the sports and leisure adult award joined the awards virtually from the University of Michigan where alongside his training he is studying a business degree. The Bracknell boy won the European U20 Athletics champion in 2019, winning gold in the 110m Hurdles.

Sponsors of the night included Toyota, Honda, Waitrose, Nike group of companies, Berkeley Group, Landland UK, ESL, Shorts, Syngenta, Suez and Content Guru.