The first Award for the Peter Edwards' Citizenship and Achievement Award was presented to Mr. Colin Gardener. The Award was presented by Mrs. Pamela Edwards, the wife of the late Peter Edwards, at a ceremony held at Staffordshire Police Headquarters on 3rd March 2005.

Mr. Gardener's achievements were as follows:-

Within the Weston Road Bar he organises and runs the "Black Country Night Out" shows for those who want to come as well as Quiz Nights, Assisting with the "Family Christmas" Christmas party. He also sorts out out the sound system of the Retired Section Christmas Party along with assisting with the recent Tsunami Fund Raising night.

Outside of Work;

Church

Running the Quiz Nights.
Running the Beetle Drives.
Assisting, when shifts allow, with the fund raising fayres.

General

Set and run quizzes for;
St Peter's Preschool, now at Rising Brook School.
The Mormon Church in Lichfield.
St Leonards Primary School PTA.
Rising Brook High School PTA.
Uttoxeter Police Club.

Ran Beetle Drives for;
St Peter's Preschool.
Rising Brook High School PTA.

Other Commitments

Colin Gardener is a member of the Rising Brook High School PTA, where he has arranged Public Address Systems. Sorted out and set up Stage Lighting, effects and the Sound Systems needed for productions. Colin Gardener compares the Talent Show each year and Video the Christmas Show as well as organising the new table / seating arrangements.

Colin Gardener is a member of the "Front of House" staff at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, where his role is, along with the other FOH members, to look after the patrons before, during and after each performance. He has recently become a Manager in this role, which involves more responsibility, including the welfare of anything up to 550+ patrons.

He has been asked to entertain members of the Haywood & Colwich Gardening Guild at their Christmas meeting on the past 2 occasions and also the forthcoming year.

Colin Gardener drives a Mini-bus for Community Link on an ad-hoc basis. Community Link is a Stafford based charity who transport persons who cannot and have difficulty in using public transport, be they wheelchair bound, have a temporary disability are in their third age or have another handicap. This could be a couple of passengers on the Dial-a-Ride where he will collect them from their home address and take them to their requested destination, later on to collect them and return them home, or a group of children from Marshlands School, or a community group going on an outing, whatever their request. For this Colin Gardener has had to undergo a driving course which includes wheelchair handling.

For a period of about 12-18 months, Colin undertook similar driving for Katharine House Hospice, but has now been unable to continue this due to other commitments.

All the above are done at no charge to the organisations involved. However Colin does receive expenses for Community Link and a voucher from the Gatehouse Theatre for duties, this is to go towards the costs of out of pocket expenses of travelling and parking respectively.

As well as Colin's full time employment within the Southern Area Control Room, he is also on the ad-hoc list for Enquiry Office Clerks based at Stafford Police Station; this has caused Colin to work at Stone, Cannock and Uttoxeter as well as Stafford Front Office. These duties are paid, but do give him a chance to deal with the public at large, which is what he enjoys doing.