Winner: PAULINE CHAMBERS
Aycliffe Business Make Your Mark Awards
ROLE MODEL OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by
THE FINALISTS
Pauline Chambers from Lifeline Community Action was presented with the Role Model of the Year award by Carol Gaskarth of category sponsor Pioneering Care Partnership.
Winner: PAULINE CHAMBERS
The winner of the Role Model category at the Make Your Mark Awards said she was“ overwhelmed” to pick up the prize – 35 years to the day since entering the voluntary sector.
On May 7, 1991, Pauline Chambers started as a volunteer with Citizen’ s Advice – an organisation she’ d stay with for 23 years.
But since 2014, she’ s been heavily involved with Lifeline Community Action – first on a consultancy basis and more recently as its chief strategic officer.
And on May 7, at Hardwick Hall, as she emotionally picked up her Role Model award from Carol Gaskarth, chief executive of category sponsor Pioneering Care Partnership, Pauline admitted:“ I love my job and I’ m certainly not retiring – they’ ll have to take me out in a box!”
Reflecting on her time with Lifeline, she said:“ At the end of 2019, the founder wanted to move away and asked me if I would like to take over the helm.
“ I wasn’ t sure – I liked doing what I was doing but I decided I couldn’ t see this fab organisation close, so we got a new team in place. We started on April 1 but we were in lockdown in 2020, so the business plan went out of the window! But we’ ve just grown from there.”
Pauline said she was“ overwhelmed” to win the award, which saw her win the trophy ahead of“ amazing” fellow finalists Diane Shakespeare of Optimum Skills and Incluscape’ s Jacky Stansfield-Smith.
And she admitted some pride in being labelled a role model“ because I’ ve always tried to support my staff over all my 35 years in the sector.”
Perhaps Pauline’ s greatest achievement with Lifeline was securing £ 1m to transform a derelict building into the new Community Hub in Newton Aycliffe – a facility that provides essential food, advice, wellbeing support and even life-saving interventions to thousands of vulnerable individuals.
She said:“ The Hub was a challenge. Carol was part of the early development group when we first took over and tried to build this new community hub, so we had a lot of support from a lot of people helping to try and see if we could make it a reality.
“ When we knew it was going to cost over £ 1m, we kind of thought, wow- but we did it! And we’ re growing and we’ ve actually filled it.
“ We’ re hoping to maybe reach 30,000 people this year across County Durham in terms of the people we’ ve helped. It was 25,500 last year, so we really hope for 30,000 this year.”
She added:“ It’ s all about people – that’ s why I do it. I’ m 62 now but this has all given me a new lease of life.”
DIANE SHAKESPEARE( Optimum Skills)
As CEO of Optimum Skills, exceptional role model Diane champions a supportive and empowering workplace culture.
Embodying the company’ s core values- optimistic, compassionate, united, fearless, agile and ready- she pioneered“ Gratitude Friday”, an ingrained weekly celebration across all hubs.
In 2025, Diane sponsored the Knife Angel’ s visit to Newton Aycliffe and spearheaded a dedicated anti-knife crime school programme.
She also launched the tailored‘ EMpowerED’ life skills programme and successfully rebranded the company’ s vision, consistently dedicating herself to optimising potential and improving lives.
JACKY STANSFIELD-SMITH( IncluScape)
Jacky’ s values-driven leadership has had a transformative impact across Newton Aycliffe.
Through her work with IncluScape and the Neuro North Forum, she champions inclusivity, leaving individuals feeling valued and capable.
In 2025, she demonstrated exceptional visible leadership through dedicated mentoring, advocacy and authentic everyday examples.
She generously shares her knowledge with calm confidence, empowering colleagues and community partners to recognise their strengths.
Inspiring others through consistent, human-centric behaviour rather than status, Jacky strengthens teams and builds lasting confidence across networks.
18 | Aycliffe Business