Local Vicar chosen as Lingfield’s One In A Million Community Hero
Reverend Ian Whitley from Lingfield was nominated for being ‘an inspiration to our community’ after founding Lingfield Local Youth Hub, a charity aimed at improving the lives of young people in Lingfield and surrounding villages.
Ian’s achievements will be recognised on Saturday 20 January at the Winter Million Festival.
Local Vicar, Revd. Ian Whitley, has been chosen as Lingfield Park’s ‘One In A Million’ Community Hero. Chosen for his community work in creating a safe place for young people to gather and help develop their skills. Among reaching out to over 40 young individuals in under 12-months since the birth of the Lingfield Local Youth Hub, Ian also acts as Chaplain for Young Epilepsy Lingfield giving his time to care for those in need, and has also chaired the local Lingfield Day which raised over £2,000 for local charities.
Lingfield Park Racecourse launched the ‘One In A Million’ community hero competition to celebrate the inspiring individuals living in Kent and Surrey during the Winter Million Festival.
The racecourse asked the public to make nominations for the One In A Million community hero accolade by visiting the Lingfield Park website and submitting a short summary about their nomination’s achievements and how they’ve gone above and beyond to support the local community.
As the ‘One In A Million’ community hero, Ian has been awarded £1,500 to the charity of his choice and has selected the Lingfield Youth Hub (run by the St Peter and St Paul Church Charity), and has been invited into hospitality at the event.
A few words from Revd. Ian;
“The Lingfield Youth Hub was set up as a place for young people in the local community to gather, improve their quality of life, give them the freedom to be themselves and help them develop skills such as cooking, ironing, sewing and self-defense.
It is great the hub will get some publicity which is very important for young people. We can be sure that we are providing something special for the youth community in Dormansland and Lingfield, when there isn’t much for them elsewhere. The money will allow growth, improve the projects and give young people those essential skills moving forward.”
The Winter Million festival takes place at Lingfield Park every January, and offers £1million worth of prize money across event, which features both jumps and all-weather racing.
For more information about The Winter Million Festival, as well as available tickets and hospitality, please visit www.lingfieldpark.co.uk
