volunteer of the year
Arlesey Remembers You is a very successful village project. The idea
behind it was to place personalised crosses on the graves of the men
named on our war memorial who died in the first world war or as a result of
their injuries. This involved a large number of people of all ages and walks
of life volunteering to visit the graves as well a people helping with research
etc. A significant amount of co-ordination of this effort was done be Jodie
Chillery. In addition Jodie made a very successful TV documentary and DVD
of the project. For this effort and more she was nominated for Central Beds
Volunteer of the Year award by Duncan Wang. Her nomination read :I wish to nominate Jodie Chillery for Volunteer of the Year
The reason:Arlesey Remembers You was a very successful village project that placed
an individual poppy cross on the 87 graves of the men named on Arlesey’s
war memorial to commemorate the centenary of the start of the first
world war. The graves are located across the world in Iraq, Israel, Turkey,
Belgium, France and England including 10 in Arlesey. The crosses were
placed by relatives of those named and people of all ages from the village.
The project’s main activity was from January through to November 2014.
Jodie organised much of the activity such as arranging to have the
crosses made by school children, contacting people to visit the various
graves to place the crosses etc. In addition she came up with further
ideas for the project, the most notable was obtaining some trees from the
Woodland Trust for a memorial copse to be planted this year. She made
contact with the national campaign to commemorate the centenary of
the first world war and spoke at their launch event about the village and
its project which impressed all those present. As a result of this, a major
article about the project appeared in the Daily Telegraph. This has lead to
national recognition and has given an example for others to see what can
be achieved. To top it off she made a 30 minute TV documentary which was
shown on the Community Channel and was sold as DVDs to raise funds for
a headstone for a soldier’s unmarked grave. The headstone has now been
placed on the grave in the local churchyard. Through her efforts all sections
of the village came together in a way seldom seen these days and is a fine
example for future projects in Arlesey and indeed for all communities across
the country. The support of the village in this way ensured the project’s
success.The whole village is very proud of what has been achieved. Her
contribution has brought a much needed “feel good” factor to the village. Her
boundless enthusiasm and commitment was a major factor in the success of
the project.
In summary her contribution to the Arlesey Remembers You project was
whole hearted and involved a great deal of time. If someone deserves
recognition for giving something to their community it is Jodie. She was truly
inspirational.
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