Lonnie Downes - October winner
Lonnie is awarded the Good Citizen Award for the variety of tasks he undertakes. He is Chairman of Longford CAN and led on the forming of this group which grew out of the amalgamation of several small residents associations in Longford. In this role he works tirelessly for the benefit of local residents.
As Welfare Officer for the Bedworth Branch of the Parachute Regiment Association he arranges for local fundraisers to take part in parachute jumps with the Red Devils team. In 2014 Lonnie arranged for the Lord Mayor’s Consort to undertake a tandem jump to raise money for the Lord Mayor’s Charity Appeal. Lonnie has numerous parachute jumps to his name, many for charities such as SSAFA, but also whilst serving in the Parachute Regiment. Lonnie also visits wounded forces personnel in hospital.
Lonnie was instrumental in setting up the Airborne Forces Memorial in the War Memorial Park. Without his support this project would not have come to fruition.
As a member of the Ricoh Arena Monitoring Group he attended many meetings regarding the building of the arena offering a lay person’s thoughts on behalf of the local community.
In 1972 Lonnie reported that poisonous waste was being dumped locally. As a result of this a bill was rushed through Parliament regarding the disposal of toxic waste and was passed in to law in March of that year.
Lonnie does not think he does anything special but his work in the community is now being recognised for his commitment, hard work and sincerity to all; he is a real Community Champion.