Sports stars from Newtown and throughout Montgomeryshire have been honoured at the 2015 Montgomeryshire Annual Sports Awards.
The accolades, which are co-ordinated by Powys County Council’s Sports Development Team, recognise and celebrate sporting success of local individuals and teams in sport at all levels.
The awards night were held at Newtown’s entertainment venue Hafren.
Sixty five nominations were received for the latest awards, which saw the accolades go to:
• Junior Team of the Year: Welshpool High School – Wheelchair Basketball Team
• Senior Team of the Year: Badminton duo – Emilie/Oliver Gwilt
• Young Sports Leader: Grace Powell
• Volunteer of the Year: Bronwen Poole, Swimming
• Coach of the Year: Lisa Trigg, Netball
• Club of the Year: Dolly Mixtures
• Disabled Sports Personality of the Year: Ben Johnson-Rolfe, Wheelchair Tennis / sailing
• Junior Sports Personality of the Year – U12’s: Paris Schofield, Football
• Junior Sports Personality of the Year – U14’s: Ryan Lewis
• Junior Sports Personality of the Year – U18’s: Lauren Williams – Athletics
• Senior Sports Personality of the Year: Tom Sagar – Motor Cycle Enduros
Services to Sports Awards were also presented to three individuals to recognise their outstanding contribution to sport. They were:
• Dai Brown - Cricket
• Graham Jennings – Karate
• Caroline Orrells – Athletics
Former Powys County Council Sports Development Manager Gareth Oldham was recognised with an Outstanding Achievement Award after dedicating 30 years to sports development, not only in Powys but across Wales.
Cllr Graham Brown, Powys County Council’s Cabinet Member for Sports Development, said: “This year’s award were of the highest calibre and it just shows how many talented and dedicated sports people we have.
“I would like to congratulate the winners of this year’s awards, who fully deserve their accolades, but also everyone who was nominated. We are extremely privileged to have so many talented sports people in the area.”
Junior Team of the Year: Welshpool HS – Wheelchair Basketball Team
In March 2015, schools across Wales competed in the inaugural Wales Inclusive Zone Basketball (IZB) Finals in Cardiff. IBZ is a cross between running basketball and wheelchair basketball and is a secondary school and college programme developed by British Wheelchair Basketball.
Welshpool High School competed in the Wales finals and won, edging out Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi in a closely fought final.
As Welsh champions, they travelled to Worcester in May 2015 to compete against the other regional champions across the UK IBZ Finals and became the first Welsh school to compete in this event, which was a huge achievement.
A fantastic effort from the players against teams including one of the eventual finalists saw the team make it through to the 7th/8th place playoff and won, claiming their place as the 7th best IBZ team in the UK.
All of the participants show great dedication and can be found every lunchtime training in the school gym taking it seriously and putting everything they have into the sport.
Senior Team of the Year: Badminton duo – Emilie and Oliver Gwilt
Emilie and Oliver Gwilt are the Welsh Senior Nationals Mixed Champions and are currently Wales’ ranked number one in Seniors Mixed Doubles badminton. They are also in the top 60 in the UK for senior mixed doubles.
They competed in the 2015 Yonex Welsh Championships and despite it being their competitive debut, the duo underlined their class with a gold medal.
They booked their place in the semi-final after topping their group with an unbeaten record. The saw off the threat of international players Nic Strange and Vikki Jones in the semi-finals and went on to clinch the national mixed doubles title against Dom Brown and Rosh Mann.
Young Sports Leader: Grace Powell
Grace gives up every minute of her spare time to volunteer in sport. When she’s not play hockey or attending college studying, she is coaching at the hockey club, helping out with the high school netball team or doing what she can to encourage others to participate in sport.
Since becoming a Gold Young Ambassador, Grace has been instrumental in raising the participation rates of young people in physical activity in Newtown High School. Break and lunchtimes were given up to help with 5x60 and PE clubs. Once Grace had finished her exams, Grace came in to school every day to assist the PE teachers with their classes, or helping the 5x60 Officer with the extra-curricular clubs.
A lot of effort was put in by Grace to ensure that the High School Sports Day ran smoothly, and she was instrumental in helping with the Multi Sport Days for Newtown primary school children. Since Grace has started attending college, she still comes to help with the after school netball club.
Once the summer holidays arrived, Grace helped out with community activities such as Rounders in the Park in association with Ponthafren and Rounders in the Community with the local police force.
Volunteer of the Year: Bronwen Poole, Swimming
Welshpool Sharks depends entirely on volunteers and while in many instances they come and go, not many will have remained as committed for as long as Bronwen Poole. She first got involved with the Clun when it was first established way back in 1983 and her involvement continues to this day.
She helps at our weekly coaching sessions committing to an hour on Monday night and a further two hours on Wednesday. In addition, she is a fully qualified Swim Wales / ASA Judge and Official (J2) and regularly travels the length and breadth of Wales and England to officiate at swimming galas.
This year, Bronwen has travelled with the Club to officiate at Holywell, Llandudno, Wrexham, Wolverhampton and Cardiff.
She also works tirelessly on the administration side of the Club attending Committee Meetings and this year was elected as Chair. During her time with the Club, Bronwen has held numerous positions within the Club and was one of the founding members of Welshpool Sharks when it began back in the early 1980s.
The time and effort that Bronwen has given to the Club and the development of our swimmers is truly remarkable. This year the Club acknowledged her contribution by presenting her the ‘Bill Ward Volunteer of the Year’ award.
Coach of the Year: Lisa Trigg, Netball
Lisa runs the Newtown and District Netball Club, which is based in Welshpool. She took over the running of the club approximately 15 years ago but has been a member for over 30 years. The club has expanded in the last 10 years since training started at the Flash Leisure Centre, with over 80 members of ages ranging from eight-years-old up to 50.
Lisa tries to enter teams into local leagues or arranges friendly matches which involve every age group. The Club has entered a team into the under 17 inter club competitions for the first time and it is hoping to enter teams into the other age groups.
As well as coaching at club level, Lisa coaches the county netball U14s teams giving up time monthly to coach them and take them to national competitions every year.
Lisa works hard and offers girls in the area of any age over eight a chance to play and compete in netball. She gives up to five-and-a-half hours a week of her free time to make this all possible for the club and it is Lisa’s help that the club has trained two players that have played for Wales.
Now Lisa has also started working with new Senior and U11s teams based in Newtown and is looking to give the same netballing opportunities within the town Newtown.
Club of the Year: Dolly Mixtures
Many members of the community have gained from being involved with the Dolly Mixtures. Twice each year the group starts a beginners group for those completely new to running and in ten weeks, a collection of ladies of all ages are transformed into runners, with friendships made and fitness is gained.
The leaders of Dolly Mixtures are fantastically supportive and encouraging. They are all keen runners but choose to give up their own choice of run (pace/distance) to lead groups often much slower than their own capabilities.
The benefits of the group is reaching further than its members. Many of the members have partners and children all seeing the wonderful example that fitness is fun and beneficial.
The Club enter events either as individuals or as a team and participants can often be seen wearing their pink Dollies shirts, which attract positive comments and support.
Disabled Sports Personality of the Year: Ben Johnson-Rolfe – Wheelchair Tennis / sailing
It was a busy and successful 2015 for Ben, who was chosen for two national squads in two different Paralympic sports.
Currently a member of Clywedog Sailing Club and has been chosen to train with the GB Para Sailing squad in Weymouth, where is he aiming for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
He also tried wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis with Disability Sport Wales and narrowly missed out on a place in the Wales Under 19 Wheelchair Basketball squad. However he was talent-spotted and then chosen to train with the Welsh Wheelchair tennis squad in Cardiff. From that he went on to represent Wales in the UK School Games – wheelchair tennis category where he finished 6th in the singles and won a silver medal in the doubles competition.
Junior Sports Personality of the Year – U12’s: Paris Schofield – Football
Ten-year-old Paris, who is from Guilsfield, started playing for Welshpool Town Juniors U8s then it wasn’t long before she joined the Shropshire Girls League at U9s where she received the Players Player Award and then the following year she won the Managers Player of the Season at U10s.
Paris then joined TNS Ladies U10s for the 2014/15 season where she made massive progress which saw her become top goalscorer out of all the TNS ladies teams with 66 goals and also pick up the Managers Player of the Season in the first year.
Along with her teammates, she won several competitions including the Bangor City tournament, the Shropshire FA futsal Championship, the Shropshire Girls League Cup, the FA West Midland Regional Futsal Championships and the FA National Futsal Championship where they beat Crystal Palace in the final.
Her performances through the season drew attention from a number of scouts and top clubs. She was on trial at Manchester City and Aston Villa at the beginning of 2015 before being offered her place in Aston Villa Ladies Centre of Excellence in June 2015. She now trains twice a week for two hours in Birmingham and plays for Aston Villa U11s every weekend where she has faced teams including West Bromwich Albion, Leicester, Arsenal, Chelsea and Birmingham.
Paris also has performed fantastically in school where she has helped the girl’s school football team win the Caereinion area and Newtown area Urdd competitions to reach Urdd National finals in Aberystwyth, the first time the school has reached this stage. The team won all four group matches to get to the semi-finals of competition where they lost 15-14 on sudden death penalties to the eventual winners of the competition.
Paris is also the schools Bronze Ambassador for sport and is a fantastic role model to other children. She is very active in encouraging other children to take part in more sport and has been helping with football coaching in PE lessons and school clubs. Paris is really keen on getting the girls interested in football and is doing a great job in doing so.
Junior Sports Personality of the Year – U14’s: Ryan Lewis
In December 2014, Llanfyllin’s Ryan Lewis begun the squash season by travelling to the Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff and winning the Welsh Junior Championships in the U13 age group to become the Welsh number one. In March this year Ryan had the honour of representing Wales for the second time. He was the number 1 string in the U13 team at the 5 Nations Mixed Team Championships held at the Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh.
Ryan won his first U15 English event in June at the Merseyside Junior Open.
He was the number one string for the North Wales U15 team playing in the English Inter-counties tournament. The team won the first round in October, which was held in Liverpool, where they beat Merseyside & Cheshire to secure a place in the second round. They travelled to Pontefract in Yorkshire for the next round, before losing to a strong team from Yorkshire, Ryan had a great match with the current British Champion.
Ryan enjoys playing in an adult team in the second division of the Shropshire Leagues where he experiences some great games. A dedicated and determined sportsperson, Ryan trains hard on and off the squash court. He trains at Llanfyllin Sports Centre, travels weekly to St Asaph for coaching and to Cardiff or Bangor for National Squad training.
Junior Sports Personality of the Year – U18’s: Lauren Williams – Athletics
Lauren has had an outstanding year as a 300m hurdler, running no fewer than six personal bests and set two new records along the way. Her progress throughout the season has culminated with her being the UK's number 1, highest ranked U17 hurdler. Wins at the Welsh championships, closely followed by the Welsh Schools Championships earned her a Welsh selection for the SIAB Schools International. Another selection followed for the Welsh U18 team to compete at the Celtic Games.
Two personal bests, Two Silver medals and a Bronze medal, narrowly missing out on the Gold and a Celtic Games Record by 0.02 of a second confirm Lauren's outstanding talent and bright futures as an athlete.
Lauren has already secured the qualifying time required to be eligible for selection for team GB at the European Youth Championships after running only one 400m Hurdlers race. Her highlight of the season was at the England Championships where she had a fantastic weekend of racing, winning a Gold medal and running a huge personal best time, breaking the existing Welsh record that has stood since 2006. Her win elevated her to the number 1 spot on the UK's ranking and also places her 11th fastest on the UK all-time list.
Lauren is part of the Welsh Development Programme, and has been invited by the British Athletic Association to take part in the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence Programme, where she will study and follow the programme over the course of this next year. Lauren has been a keen member of Maldwyn Harriers throughout her school years, and was the club’s winner of the Outstanding Performance Shield for the 2014 and 2015 season.
The club recently nominated Lauren for the Welsh Athletics Award for the Junior Female Track and Field performance athlete of the year, where she was short-listed to 3rd. At the age of 16 she has already reached the qualifying standard to be considered for selection for the Senior Womens team for 400m hurdles. In addition to her sporting achievements she has been chosen as a Gold Ambassador for sport for Powys.
Senior Sports Personality of the Year: Tom Sagar, Motor Cycle Enduro
Tom was crowned the 2015 Overall European Enduro Champion and also picked up the 2015 European E2 Enduro Champion (capacity class). He finished 2nd in the E2 British Enduro Champion (capacity class) and 4th in the British Enduro Championship.
He has worked hard over the past three years, competing in the European and British Championships. He was lucky enough to win the overall British Enduro Championship in 2014 but was unfortunate not to add the European title in the same year after a mechanical problem, which mean he wouldn’t be able to score enough points to win the title even though he won every round after the mechanical problem.
He has been given an offer for 2016 to ride on-board a Sherco for the Factory team next year to compete again in the UK and Europe to try and retain the title in European and maybe regain the title in the UK.
Services to Sports: Dai Brown, Cricket
It is said that Dai’s main love lies with Newtown Cricket Club and he has given over 30 years of service to the club and is still committed. He still plays, umpires in the summer knockout competition and has spent many hours coaching and still helps coach the junior section.
He is often found on the lawn mower at the cricket club and spends tireless hours carrying out ground and maintenance work as well as working behind the bar in the clubhouse.
Dai does not stop there and he goes out of his way to help anybody he can, including coaching Newtown Ladies Hockey Club for their pre-season for the last two seasons. He never takes anything for helping out even though he dedicates hours to it, he does it for his love of a sport.
Services to Sports: Graham Jennings, Karate
Graham has been an active karate instructor for over 25 years and has reached the rank of 5th Dan, one of the highest rankings in Wales. He injects a passion for karate into all the students and is the foundation of Newtown Karate Club.
When Graham took over the running of the club, it has six members. It took many years to build it up and Graham put his own money into the club on many occasions to keep it going.
Over 25 people have achieved their black belts whilst Graham was been running the club, a remarkable achievement as only one per cent of people who start karate reach this level. He has also go three of his members to the rank of 3rd Dan.
Graham has had many students invited train and compete in the Welsh squad and the club has had someone in the Welsh squad since 1999. Graham gave up the running of the club and position of head coach in 2010 but his advice is still respected and valued.
Services to Sports: Caroline Orrells, Athletics
Caroline has been a mainstay with Maldwyn Harriers for the past 20 years where she has held many positions including secretary, race organiser, endurance official and race referee. Not only is she one of the originals from the ladies group, Caroline is also an enthusiastic athlete.
Together with her husband Steve, she was the original organiser and leading light of the Maldwyn Harriers Race series which has been in place for many years. She organised the races from advertising to the finish and her enthusiasm and persuasive powers coerced many club and non-club members to act in positions to enable the series to succeed.
She has also acted as minute secretary for committee meeting for many years, a job which she performed in a perfect and efficient manner. Caroline’s strength has always been the encouragement of all the athletes no matter of their ability and in our cross country races she will be seen at the back encouraging the slower athletes and so foregoing a more prominent finishing position.
In 2012 Caroline was selected to carry the Olympic torch on its travels around the UK. This was a great honour not only for Caroline but also for the club.
Outstanding Achievement: Gareth Oldham
Gareth was Powys County Council’s first and last Sports Development Manager and retired in the summer of 2015 after 30 years of unstinting service.
When Gareth was appointed as the county’s first sport development officer (SDO) in 1985 but also become the first SDO to be appointed in Wales. He has witnessed the transformation of sports development from an embryonic initiative at the margins of local government to the Sports Lottery funded and Charter Mark profession of today.
He has been one of the key figures in the sports development success story and the profession in Wales owes him a debt of gratitude.
Gareth’s commitment to sport has always been reflected in his leisure time, as a participant, volunteer, parent and sports fan; and he will no doubt continue to play a vital role for many sports in Powys and central Wales in future years.
