Winner of Outstanding Contribution to Earliest Years Community Stars Award 2023
4 June 2025
It was fitting that Bradford’s glitziest event of the year, the Community Stars Awards should take place during Volunteers’ Week on the evening of Tuesday 3 June at the Cedar Court Hotel.
The awards recognise those people who give their time freely making valuable contributions to improving lives for people in the Bradford district.
Here at Better Start Bradford, it was an extra special evening as this is our final year of having the honour of sponsoring the Outstanding Contribution to Early Years award.
Alongside the three finalists for our award, there were finalists in eight more categories eagerly awaiting to see if their name would be called out to receive a prestigious Community Star Award.
The competition for the early years category was tough, with the following finalists:
🎇 Emily Preston for her voluntary work alongside supporting families with young children at The Hive Community Centre. Emily organises fundraising events and delivers food parcels to those unable to travel to sessions.
🎇 Rea Halstead for her voluntary work alongside her midwifery role at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS FT, supporting new mums with feeding, bonding and much more.
🎇 Sally Hebden created Bingley Baby Social (BBS) to address the lack of accessible spaces for new parents in Bingley. Sally’s passion and tireless efforts make Bingley Baby Social a vital asset to the community.
Finally, the time came to announce the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Early Years’ Award’. The finalists waited with bated breath while the Noreen Akhtar, Assistant Director Neighbourhoods and Communities with Bradford Council opened the shiny gold envelope with the winner’s name on it.
There were whoops and shrieks all round as Rea Halstead was announced winner – the award clearly meaning the world to her and her supporters as she took the certificate, coveted Bradford medal and chocolates from our Better Start Bradford Director, Gill Thornton and Chair of Board, Vipin Joshi.
Once recovered, Rea said:
I’m so surprised, humbled and grateful to have been nominated, let alone win! What a privilege to have had enough people think I’m deserving of an award for supporting families at the beginning of their parenting journey.
Gill Thornton, Director of Better Start Bradford said:
This is the last year that Better Start Bradford will be able to sponsor the Outstanding Contribution to Early Years Community Star Award, because our programme finishes this year. We have been really happy to sponsor this award because these people make a difference that lasts a lifetime in the work that they do, which they give freely!
We all need to be thanking them as they all work with the most wonderful people in the world – our youngest citizens.
There were lots of familiar faces at the ceremony including finalists of the Large Voluntary and Community Group Award, Bradford Doulas and Ruth Kershaw, who has been a Home-Start Bradford District volunteer for 17 years and was a finalist in the Volunteer of the Year category.
Better Start Bradford has sponsored the Outstanding Contribution to Early Years Community Star Award since 2016, here’s a list of the winners over the years:
2016 – Salhia Ahmed for her volunteer work with Bradford Doulas
2017 – Alice Wilkinson for her breastfeeding support box
2018 – Parents in the Lead panel members for their work supporting groups
2019 – Jo Midgeley, a volunteer supporting mums in the Better Start Bradford area
2021 – Tahire Zeneli, who has volunteered at BD4 Family for nine years.
2022 – Bowling Park Allotments and Gardens Society for their grandparenting and early years gardening project
2023 – Danutra Petrie, who helped establish and run Bradford Baby Bank
2025 – Rea Halstead, for her voluntary work supporting new mums with feeding and bonding
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