From volunteering to fundraising and fostering... Colin Butler, Margaret Orbell and Pamela Putman have all helped others.
And now their hard work is being recognised by the Birmingham Live Pride of Birmingham Awards, in partnership with TSB.
Here they tell us about their amazing stories...
Lifetime achievement winner – Colin Butler MBE
Colin is Childline’s longest-serving volunteer and has been supporting children in danger
since the helpline’s launch in 1986.
He has taken 15,000 calls from kids who have had nowhere else to turn – with some in a suicidal state.
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Colin, from Malvern, Worcs, said he was “very proud and totally surprised” when he received the honour from comic Jasper Carrott.
He added: “When I see that award on the mantelpiece I think that’s recognition of what we’ve
all done.”
Colin was a deputy head at a secondary school when he got involved with Childline.
He quickly recognised how the free helpline would enable young victims to seek support after spotting an advert in a newspaper.
Colin said: “Police, the NSPCC and social services were there but not many children would walk into social services and say, ‘I’m being abused, help me’.”
And there was definitely a need for the service, with 50,000 calls on the first night. Colin said: “It’s never really quietened down. The demand and need is always there.”
The 74-year-old told how helping others is his biggest reward and he has no intention of quitting his role.
He said: “A young lady phoned and she was pregnant and didn’t know what to do. She was thinking about taking her life or running away.
“So I persuaded her to talk to her mum and a year later she called me back to say thank you and that
she’d named her little boy Colin. That took my breath away.”
- The Birmingham Live Pride of Birmingham Awards, in partnership with TSB, is on YouTube.com/prideofbritainawards on Thursday, at 7pm.
We owed hospital a tremendous debt
Fundraiser of the year – Margaret Orbell
The 93-year-old started raising money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital after doctors saved her son in 1952.
Mark, 69, was just four weeks old when he received surgery on a blockage on his stomach.
It is estimated Margaret has raised more than £40,000 by selling cards, wrapping paper and making her own jam and marmalade. And she has now been crowned fundraiser of the year.
Margaret said: “After Mark’s operation, Ron [my husband] and I felt we owed a tremendous debt to the hospital – the staff did a miraculous job.”
Mark added his mum was “taken aback” when TV presenter Nick Owen presented her with the award.
Speaking of his pride at his mum’s fundraising, he said: “I think her aim is to carry on doing it for as long as she feels able to. She’s a one-off.”
Supermum Pam fostered 300 kids
Special recognition: Pamela Putman - pictured above
Devoted Pamela Putman has spent 40 years giving children a safe and stable home to live, fostering 300 youngsters and adopting six.
Pamela, from Walsall, West Mids, started fostering when she was just 22 and has never looked back.
As well as her two birth children Tia, 22, and Bryan, 25, she went on to adopt six kids who she had been fostering.
Daughter Chanel said: “Mum kind of fell into it. She met a lady at school who needed help with a child. It started from there.
“Mum always puts other people before herself, she is a beautiful person.
“I went to live with her at three months and she definitely saved me.”
