THE Best of The West Awards are back again and following on from last year’s virtual celebration, preparations are underway to celebrate our community heroes in an in-person gala at the Devenish Complex on 3 September.
Leading the business sponsors of the 2021 event which will spotlight the recovery from Covid is Translink.
Translink’s Belfast Area Manager, Damien Bannon said that they are extremely grateful to be able to support the awards again this year.
“Best of The West is very much a celebration of the community a community which we are extremely grateful to serve” he said.
“We have very recently held our own SPIRIT of Translink Heroes of the Pandemic awards, recognising the contribution of frontline staff who worked through the course of the pandemic delivering services to key and essential and workers.
“In what has been probably the most challenging year for our team both personally and professionally, recognising and awarding these efforts has never been more important. To be given the opportunity to now publicly recognise frontline colleagues effort through the Best of The West really puts the icing on the cake.”
Translink will also be sponsoring an award which recognises a person who has gone over and above to take positive climate action in their community.
Detailing the importance of sustainability to Translink, Damien added: “Those who choice to travel by Metro or Glider or choosing to travel sustainably. One of the benefits we all enjoyed during the pandemic was the improved air quality with less cars on the road.
“As part of our building back better strategy want to influence people's long term travel habits to encourage them to make better travel choices for their health, their wealth and the environment by opting for public transport. As part of our building back strategy we are investing heavily in 100 new high spec zero emission double deck buses and we will have a zero emission fleet operating through Belfast by 2030.
“In addition to this large scale investment we are introducing a new ticketing system in Autumn this year in Metro this will allow people to turn up, tap on with their bank card and travel, similar to London’s oyster style system. This ease of use and demystify public transport if you like will remove barriers and make it more attractive. and easier to travel.
“positive climate action can’t be done on its own and it requires collaboration with communities and key stakeholders. Celebrating and recognising those local climate champions is very much integral to this collaboration.”
The final award that Translink will be supporting recognises the Best Visitor Attraction on the Translink route.
Discussing the importance of the Glider in opening up West Belfast to visitors and residents from other communities, Damian said: “The Glider network has proven to be a resounding success which is enjoyed and enthusiastically supported by residents in the East and West of the city.
“It has opened up parts of the city which previously may not have been accessible or as connected as there are now. Our key corporate objectives is about connecting communities and Glider is sets the standard or doing just that by providing a convenient frequent reliable and cross city connection.
“West Belfast has much to offer and many more people can and do now enjoy the excellent restaurants, cultural offering in the Gaeltacht quarter, to the world class visitor attractions in Colin Glen Forest Park. Glider has helped open up these attractions to the wider community and hopefully going someway to help them to continue to flourish.”
