York church volunteer honoured

Andrew Nicholson was named north volunteer of the year for his work at Holy Trinity Goodramgate, where he welcomes visitors and explains the history of the church, cleans and conducts visitor surveys, among other duties.

He was presented with his award and £500 from the Marsh Christian Trust by former Masterchef Loyd Grossman, the chairman of The Churches Conservation Trust, which hosted the awards in London. Four other volunteers from across the country were also recognised.

Chief executive of The Churches Conservation Trust Crispin Truman, said: “Volunteers are vital to the work of The Churches Conservation Trust, and without the work of Andrew and 1,700 others like them it would be impossible to keep the doors open across our 347 churches.”

Other winners included Jessica Martin, who was recognised as young volunteer of the year for her work visiting 62 different churches to study Commonwealth War graves, including at St John’s in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and helping the Churches Conservation Trust to develop a memorial database.