“I AM happy that our family’s story resonates with at least someone else out there”
These were the words of our Family of the year winner Andrew Edwards after claiming the prize in our Community Heroes 2021 Awards.
Author and volunteer ,Mr Edwards nominated his family for the award, praising their loyal support throughout his career and was delighted that his sister Melanie could receive some recognition.
“I am happy that our family’s story resonates with at least someone else out there,” he said.
“I truly believe that without my sister’s assistance throughout my life, especially this last year with our beloved mother’s sudden passing aged 77, that the awful transition would have been infinitely more difficult for our whole family without her and my niece Chloë.
“Melanie always supported our mother from the moment I was born when she was 12 but has never liked the limelight preferring me to take centre stage. However, without Melanie’s sage, honest, candid and sometimes blunt advice over my life reinforcing our mother, I wouldn’t have managed at all as well.
“We have always been very close as she has never moved further away than around the corner in my life and we have lived next door to one another in Gwersyllt since June 1998.
“Before our mother, passed away, Melanie was in effect the trustworthy, football assistant manager, who never had any want to be the main operator. Now, she is figuratively speaking she is the manager and, despite the very sad passing of our mother, we are punching above our weight in the league against the odds on a shoestring budget.
“Bearing all this in mind, it is about time Melanie receives the accolades that should bestowed upon her, of which I cannot think of someone else living who is more deserving.”
The Family of the year award is sponsored by ABP Ellesmere
Why are ABP Ellesmere sponsoring ‘Family of the Year’?
A spokesman said: “ABP Ellesmere are pleased to support this year’s award and we are proud to sponsor ‘Family of the Year’.
“ABP Ellesmere is a large, local employer who offer lots of family-friendly shift patterns to ensure employees receive the right work-life balance.
“The Ellesmere site employs lots of employees who are related therefore we thought this category would be a good reflection of the family environment at ABP Ellesmere.”
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