Lenny Williams has been nominated to be a Community Champion for his work as a school governor at Orchard Primary School, Hackney.

Orchard Primary School governor nominated to be a Community Champion

Sarah Shaffi, Olympics editor (news) Thursday, July 5, 2012
9:02 AM

A father whose daughter campaigned for him to become a school governor has been nominated to be named a Community Champion.

Nominate your Community Champion

Email your nominations for Community Champions to sarah.shaffi@archant.co.uk, including your name, contact telephone number and email address.

Please include the name and contact number of the person you are nominating and about 150 words on why you are nominating them. Please also indicate whether or not they know they have been nominated. You can also send your nominations to Sarah Shaffi, Media House, 539 High Road, Ilford, IG1 1UD.

Twenty people will be shortlisted from each of the Olympic boroughs – Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Greenwich.

A panel of judges will then decide on the final 50.

The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, July 18.

Lenny Williams, of Queen Anne Road, Hackney, was nominated for his work as a governor at Orchard Primary School.

The Community Champions scheme is being run by the Gazette and the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), the body in charge of the Olympic Park after the London 2012 Games, when it will be renamed the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Fifty Community Champions will be named across the six Olympic host boroughs and each will get two tickets to the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games and an invitation to meet a Paralympian.

Lenny became a governor after his daughter Ruby, who is in Year 5 at the school, persuaded him.

The 51-year-old, who also has a son, Jacob, at the school, said: “Ruby asked me if I’d like to be a governor and said she would vote for me. She made a little badge.”

Lenny was put forward by Stephen Hall, the school’s executive headteacher, who said: “As a school governor for a number of years Lenny has supported Orchard in its journey to being one of the most successful schools in Hackney.

“He commits to events in support of the school and has consistently promoted the inclusion of the Olympics in our curriculum.

“Lenny is an active part of the wider community and works closely with other community organisations such as Hackney Quest.

“He has run anger management and community workshops on our school site as part of this, but also facilitates at Hackney Quest which supports the Frampton Park Estate. In these workshops he supports families and parents in difficult circumstances.”

Lenny, who is married to Kate, said: “There’s a saying that it takes a community to raise a child.

“I have grown up in Hackney and I always felt if I lived here and had children here it would be nice to help the community.

“I am really chuffed to be nominated. I am just doing what a parent would want to do for their children.”