Lancaster man wins BBC TV award for his fundraising efforts during 2020

Former Morecambe town councillor Joshua Brandwood was asked to join the BBC to contribute to a story about charities at Christmas.

However, while filming, the presenter announced that he had been nominated for and won a BBC North West Christmas Star for the charity work he has undertaken throughout 2020.

"I was filmed in Williamson Park along with my wife and son," he said. "During filming, the presenter revealed that they had not been completely honest with me and that they were actually filming a piece solely about my charity contributions this year and that I had been nominated by numerous people to receive the BBC North West Christmas Star."

Among Joshua's charity work this year was a run along Morecambe prom to raise money to help little Lexi Tindale, who has the incredibly rare neurological condition Krabbe disease.

As well as raising funds for Lexi and her family, he was also nominated for raising £3,000 for St Catherine’s Food Bank in Wakefield, which was at risk of closing after vandals targeted them for a fifth time, causing hundreds of pounds worth of criminal damage and threatening the future of the vital service.

"Due to the incredible funds raised, I am delighted to see the food bank still operating," he said.

In September, Joshua also organised a charity walk to raise funds for Cancer Research UK in memory of his grandparents who sadly passed away from lung cancer.

His father Mark Bryan also wanted to honour his parents by walking from Lancaster to Morecambe, despite the life-changing injuries he sustained following a near fatal accident back in 2018.

"I also wanted to pay homage to my father after taking on this huge challenge so I sent out on appeal on social media asking for Lancaster residents to come and show their support on the day of the event and they didn’t disappoint!" Joshua added.

"Since the start of the pandemic, I have also been operating a food collection point from my home address for Morecambe Bay Food Bank.

"I have posted leaflets to every house in my area to notify them of the support available to them. Overall, we have collected approximately 50 crates of food and essentials for people requiring additional support in these difficult times.

"We are also currently running a ‘reverse advent calendar’ that I have posted to homes across Lancaster so they have an opportunity to donate a particular item each day which will be then used to make up a Christmas food hamper for families.

"I am absolutely delighted and honoured to receive such an award and simply cannot believe that I was selected out of all the thousands of nominations the BBC received.

"I simply couldn’t have raised all the funds and food items if it wasn’t for the generous contributions made by the community and for that I’m eternally grateful.”

Joshua also thanked the Lancaster Guardian and Visitor coverage of his events for helping to lead to his nomination.