Celebrating Forces Families Awards 2023
Category: Events
Publish date: 04/05/2023
The CTP and Right Management are delighted to support the second Celebrating Forces Families (CFF) Awards evening, which took place on Friday 28th April 2023, recognising 36 amazing finalists who have given so much to the UK’s Armed Forces community. With two of the youngest finalists aged just 10 years of age, the event recognised and celebrated every cohort of the ‘military family’ through their hard work, drive and determination.
The ceremony, held at the Victory Services Club in London was attended by families, friends, all event sponsors and the Ministry of Defence. This included military leads who joined the evening by invite to show their appreciation to the UK’s military families.
Actor and SSAFA Ambassador, Antony Cotton MBE presented the Awards alongside BFBS presenter Sian Grzeszczyk. Between them, they presented with true sincerity and empathy, bringing the Awards to life, recognising the inspiring stories of each and every finalist. Antony also broke from the traditional stage announcements this year, taking to the floor and talking to finalists - especially those in the Inspirational Family Member of the Year and Young People’s Award categories.
Right Management, on behalf of CTP sponsored the Young People’s Award for the second year and we are in awe of all of the amazing young people who were nominated. The three finalists;
James Watt, Heather Pollock and Gregor Allan were all very worthy winners in our eyes for the incredible initiatives they have achieved. There could be only one winner though and it was Gregor Allan who was presented the Award by our very own Karen Cannon (CTP Aldergrove) and Abie Hutchinson (CTP Catterick) who proudly represented CTP on the night.
The Awards began with a drinks reception, filled with guests and an atmosphere of excitement and expectation. It was followed by a sumptuous three-course-meal in the venue’s Carisbrooke Hall. After the meal, the audience were entertained with an amazing performance; a trio of songs sung by the Armed Forces Children Choir to ably mark the start of the Awards’ announcements.
Armed Forces Children Choir spokesperson, the CEO of Never Such Innocence, Katie Salari reflects on Friday evening’s experience:
“It was a privilege for the Voices of Armed Forces Children Choir to perform at the Celebrating Forces Families Awards, especially as it was held in April, the Month of the Military Child. It is vital that Service children have the opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings about being a member of the greater Armed Forces family. The choir loved seeing audience members singing along to Welcome Home and Stand Up and it was a special honour to recognise the Queen with their song, The Most Famous Lady, which they wrote after her passing. The Queen was the head of the Armed Forces and they wanted to remember her through that song. It was a wonderful night recognising so many amazing people who have done so much for the military community this past year and we were honoured to perform for them.”
All finalists were presented with certificates as they arrived at the Awards to celebrate their achievements on being shortlisted. We hope everyone was able to take a moment and reflect on their valuable input to the Armed Forces community, irrespective of the winners – this event was set up to celebrate everyone.
The event can be viewed on playback through the CFF Website