Volunteer of the Year 2009 Announced!

And the winner is…

Paul Mackintosh from Her Majesty's Prison at Full Sutton.

Due to Paul's vision, persistence, dedication and hard work (mostly in his spare time), a brand new health and fitness centre for staff has been fitted at HMP Full Sutton with the help and funding from CSSC. This gym is now open and there to benefit the 700+ members of staff (and their families) who work at the prison.

This is how it all happened:

Paul is the Senior Officer in the catering department of HMP Full Sutton. He first had the idea for the gym in 2006, but the Deputy Governor at the time felt unable to support it. So his plans were put in his drawer and forgotten for a couple of years. When the new Deputy Governor, Ed Cornmell, joined two years later, he set up a committee to improve staff facilities, and the Deputy Governor asked for ideas. Paul suggested the gym, handed him his well-thought out plans and fortunately Mr Cornmell supported it.

A vacant building was soon refurbished and showers were installed. A questionnaire was sent to the staff asking what facilities they would like, and with input from CSSC's Alan Peed, a plan was produced and costed. Paul dedicated his time to research equipment and organise funding; he spent hours planning, emailing, going to meetings, creating files and documents from surveys, accounts spreadsheets, membership and induction forms; all in his own time. Even now the gym is open he conducts member inductions in his spare time to fit around the new members' working shifts. The gym opened in February 2010 and Paul is the chairman overseeing the whole operation. He has already welcomed 137 members. For £13.25 a month (which includes CSSC membership) members have access to state-of-the-art gym facilities right on their workplace doorstep.

Paul does not sit down and wait for opportunities, he goes looking for them. He thrives on challenges, but not just ones that he can benefit from, he wants others to benefit too. With the gym as successful as it is, Paul gets immense satisfaction seeing the joy his colleagues get from his hard work, and for Paul, that's what makes it all worth while.

Ed Cornwell had this to say: "Paul has single-handedly taken this project from conception to delivery. Through his focused approach to making this a reality, Paul has ensured that something excellent has been achieved which benefits the 700+ people working at the prison. This really is a case of one man making a difference. Paul has overseen every element of work and even offered his time to act as a labourer on site. He ensured that the facility delivered what the staff group wanted and gave up a great deal of personal time working with managers and the building team to deliver an excellent facility. Paul is very deserving of recognition, he has gone that extra mile and from his efforts many have benefitted."