BIADS wins Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Councils' Service Excellence Award for Best Voluntary Service Provision

At a ceremony at the Bluebell Banqueting Suite on Wednesday 15th June 2011 Barnsley Independent Alzheimer's and Dementia Support were announced as winners of the Best Voluntary Service Provision category in Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council's Service Excellence Awards.

This is the 18th year of these awards and BIADS is very proud to have been selected from a number of nominees, especially as we have only been in existence for a short while.

Linda Pattison, Manager, who accepted the award said 'I'm absolutely thrilled for everyone connected with BIADS as we have all worked so hard to make BIADS a success. All of the Trustees,volunteers, members and staff should feel proud of what we have achieved in such a short time. Pam and I took a big gamble coming to work for BIADS but we feel we can safely say now that it has paid off.'

Pam Evans, Development Manager, who was also nominated for the Community Champion Award, said 'We couldn't have hoped for a better first year for our organisation and this award was the icing on the cake, we can now look forward to year two and continuing to support those affected by dementia in Barnsley'.

BIADS was set up in 2009 and began providing services for people with dementia and their carers in June 2010. Since then we have gained registered charity status and have opened a charity shop in Royston at the same time as developing our services which include carer support, befriending, Jabadao, circle dancing, holidays, social events to name but a few.