St Wilfrid’s Stars Awards
St Wilfrid’s Stars Information
Ripon Together proudly invites you to participate in our annual awards ceremony, an event dedicated to honouring local community organisations and individuals whose contributions enrich the life of Ripon and its surrounding areas.
We are looking for nominations for organisations and individuals who go that extra mile to help enhance the quality, strength and kindness of our community. This is your chance to recognize those who make a significant impact through their dedication and hard work.
Who can be nominated? Any individual or organisation contributing positively to the life of Ripon
What are the Categories? See the list of categories and criteria shown below
When will nominations close? 30th September 2025
How will the awards be judged? The awards will be made by a judging panel comprising members of Ripon community
When will the awards reception be held? October 2025 at Ripon Cathedral by invitation
St Wilfrid’s Stars Awards & Criteria
Business – A business which has supported the city or its community during the past year
Community – An individual who has made a difference to local people or the wider local community in the past year
Community Organisation – A not-for-profit organisation that has made a difference to local people in the past year
Culture – The organisation or individual who has made a significant contribution to cultural activities in the Ripon area
Sports and Activity Clubs – An individual who has made a significant contribution to sports or other group activities during the past year
Tourism – A business or other organisation that can demonstrate a significant contribution to improving the Ripon area’s offering as a tourism destination over the past year
Environment – An individual or organisation that has made a significant contribution to protecting or improving the environment during the past year
Individual Young Person – The person (under 19 years old) who has made a significant contribution during the past year
Young People’s Group – The group (under 19 years old) which has made a significant contribution during the past year
Individual Supporter of Youth – the person who has made a major difference to Ripon’s young people
The judging panel will also select an overall Volunteer of the Year
ST WILFRID’S STARS AWARD NOMINATION FORM
We should like to invite all those people and organisations receiving a nomination to a reception in the cathedral, and display their names, to celebrate their contribution to the city.
You may make as many nominations as you wish and you can nominate the same organisation or person in more than one category where that is appropriate.
THE DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS IS 30 SEPTEMBER
If you have completed this form on paper, please return it to:
Community House, Sharow View, 75 Allhallowgate, Ripon HG4 1LE
SUPPORTED BY
St Wilfrid’s Stars 2024 Winners
Special Award – Mick Stanley
This was awarded for instigating and leading the Ripon team for the work on the amazing Historical Map of Ripon. His amazing work and dedication allowed this map to move forward to its release last night.
Business Award – Ripon BID
The winner has led a lot of great work to promote Ripon as a destination, engaging local businesses, improving our virtual footprint, cleaning up and beautifying the centre of the city, providing opportunities to local businesses to reduce costs and be more environmental, and encouraging greater footfall in Ripon and its businesses. They also help fund events led by other bodies which contribute to the vibrancy of the city
Community Award – Tina Salden
This winner has incredible energy and a passion for all things community and all things Ripon. Her roles include chair of a PTA, a school governor, volunteering with Dementia Forward, her son’s football team and probably many other places. She also serves on the RAOS and Ripon Panto Group Committees and is a key member of the organising committee for the theatre festival.
Community Organisation Award – St Wilfrid’s Procession Organisation Committee
The winners are the small group that organises an event unique to Ripon and one of the biggest events in Ripon’s calendar. The last few years have seen a resurgence in the number of groups involved and in the scale of activities provided on the market squareattracting well over 1000 spectators and participants. The event also strengthens our community by providing the opportunity for lots of people to work closely together on their floats and costumes. It really showcases Ripon at its best – a fantastic community.
Culture Award – Xen Kelsey
The winner is a conductor, chamber music coach, teacher, lecturer, composer, arranger and performer. He conducts the St Cecilia Orchestra, the Ripon Community Orchestra and the Mowbray Orchestra and Ensemble. Xen drove the establishment of the Ripon Cathedral Concert Society, the St Cecilia Orchestra, Ripon Youth String Orchestra and the Ripon Youth Choirs Association. He runs the Vacation Chamber Orchestras organisation, promoting residential courses for advanced music students and performing throughout Europe as well as in the UK. He also runs an events diary to help local groups advertise their events, avoiding clashes and attracting audiences, contributing to a vibrant live classical music scene in Ripon and the surrounding areas.
Sports and Activity Clubs Award – Gary Camplejohn
The winner’s contribution has turned Ripon City Football club into a vibrant association where all ages and sex can enjoy the game, aswell as being successful competitively. They now have a ladiesteam in the West Yorkshire Premier Division. He is instrumental in the running and maintenance of the club, organising fundraisers and charity matches to keep them financially viable, and an integral part of the Ripon City Panthers youth club where he coaches and manages the under 10 year olds.
Tourism Award – Ripon Cathedral Guides & Greeters
The Cathedral Welcomers and Guides have welcomed over 100,000 visitors to the Cathedral in the past year. That figure does not include the people coming to events or services. All those people are greeted and welcomed, and offered information about the Cathedral at absolutely no cost. That welcome from the team, and the insights from the guides, is one of the most frequent reasons that visitors give such a high rating to the Cathedral in Trip Advisor, which in turn attracts more people to the city generally
Environment Award – Skell Valley Project
Our winners have energised a wide range of volunteers in several organisations as well as their own taskforce. They have helped improve the Skell, Hell Wath, community gardens and supported local schools. The impact on the physical environment, biodiversity, flood management and many other aspects of the environment throughout the catchment is marked and hopefully long-lasting.
Individual Young Person Award – Bethany Murphy & Zoe Ingham
Our winners have both completed over 100 hours of volunteering under the Power of 10 Scheme. Bethany helped design the Ambassador role for the scheme with last year’s winner of this award, Harry Wilkinson, and she and Zoe are both ambassadors. Both of them volunteer in many roles – Beth in the YMCA shop and both she and Zoe in the Summer Funfest and Green Fair amongst other things. They are not just helpers – they take on real responsibility. They are role models for others and always kind and enthusiastic.
Young Peoples’ Group Award – Ripon Library Young Volunteers
The winners are a group of people who give up significant time every Saturday and throughout the Summer holidays to help others read, socialise and exercise their imaginations. The young volunteers at the library don’t merely give a warm welcome to a great many younger children and their parents but do all the necessary admin for the Summer Reading Challenge every day over the Summer. In both the Summer Reading Challenge and the Lego club, they show leadership, commitment and responsibility and are a key reason why our library is amongst the most successful in the county.
Individual Supporter of Youth Award
Jo Thackwray
This Star has done a fabulous job establishing and promoting the power of 10 scheme to young volunteers in Ripon. This has involved developing the tools, promoting the resources, planning volunteering fairs and most importantly championing and supporting young volunteers in the city. She also represents youth interests to many other bodies across the city.
Ronny Krippner
The parents of the Ripon cathedral choristers have nominated Dr Krippner in recognition of his incredible recruitment and world class music tuition of the Cathedral’s young choristers. His visits to every school in the area have enabled any child to audition, the creation of a true community choir and greater interest in music generally in those schools.
Volunteer of the Year – David Ingham
The winner of this award, despite running his own business, spends a massive amount of time delivering events for the city, often involving children in one way or another. In particular, the Summer Funfest was his original idea and has grown into a week of events that gave free activities and food to over 600 children from in and around Ripon this Summer. He is also the lead for the Green Fair and Walk to School in Ripon and helps to deliver both the pantomime and the theatre festival outdoor events. He is encouraging and engaging in a way that brings people together and delivers more than what seemed possible initially. Much that is good about Ripon would not happen without David.
‘These awards are very important because it makes people feel like what they are doing is useful, not just doing your job but you are helping people so more and more people should get nominated for what they do. It was a massive honour to win’