A local community pub has been nominated for a national award. The Swan has been announced as one of the finalists in the influential pub industry awards, PubAid’s Community Pub Hero Awards.
The Thornbury pub has been nominated by Claire Young, the MP for Thornbury & Yate, in the Community Fundraising Hero England category, coming up against competition from almost 700 other pubs nationwide. This Community Fundraising Hero England Award recognises pubs who support charities and other good causes through fundraising. This is not just judged on the amount of money raised, but on how it was done.
Three other pubs; The Nag’s Head, Dunstable; The Royal Oak, Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton and The Dam Inn, Wakefield have also been shortlisted in this highly competitive category. The pub was shortlisted because it has raised over £190,000 for various charities, most of which goes back into Thornbury.
Most of their supported charities are Thornbury-based, but every March and September they break with tradition and instead raise money for Alzheimer’s Society. Pub manager, Sandra Davies, also runs Love Thornbury, which is a group of Thornbury residents, businesses and pubs that want to see positive change in the community.
They run regular fun days for all the family, on the first Saturday of the month on Thornbury High Street. Sandra said: “The people of Thornbury who come to The Swan Thornbury have helped me get to be one of the finalists.
“Without them The Swan would never have been able to raise over £190,000 for mainly local charities.”
The winners will be announced at an award ceremony, sponsored by Matthew Clark, at the Houses of Parliament on March 4. Des O’Flanagan, co-founder of PubAid, added: “We launched these awards to celebrate the great work that pubs do for their community. The Swan Thornbury is a perfect example of how pubs support and are a hub for many people in their community.
“The awards are in their fifth year and the volume of entries this year was staggering. What clearly came across from reading all the entries is that there are so many publicans that are doing amazing work nationwide. It was very hard to get to a shortlist so even getting to the finals is an amazing accolade for The Swan Thornbury.”