Environmentalists from 11 boroughs descended on Chelsea by boat and train on February 26 2010 to attend the Green Guardian 2009 gala awards evening.
The event, organised by this newspaper in partnership with leading councils and other sponsors, was hosted by the eco journalist Lucy Siegle, founder of the Observer Ethical Awards and a presenter on the One Show on BBC1
It was held in the exclusive Wyndham Grand, overlooking Chelsea harbour.
The 350 guests, who ranged in age from seven to over 70, were treated to a drinks reception before a delicious dinner prepared to the hotel’s five star standards.
It was the first time that the winners from borough environmental awards in south east London had come together with those from south west London to take part in a combined final awards ceremony.
A winner from each area was announced on the night in each of the nine categories.
Lucy presented each of them with a framed awards certificate based on a front page article about their work.
She then announced the overall winner, who was presented with a unique trophy created by artist Michelle Reader from old CD racks, bicycle spokes, tin cans and Green Guardian pages.
They also won one of a series of prizes ranging from £500 from HSBC for the winning secondary school to a stay in an organic B&B in Cornwall combined with a trip to the Eden centre for the winning project - Transition Town Kingston.
In her keynote speech Lucy paid tribute to the work done by all the finalists as well as explaining in an engaging and amusing way some of the issues that she believes are important at present, such as greenwash, where companies pretend to be green to attact customers and the importance of using environmental footprinting to measure the amount of resources used by individuals.
There were also video messages from the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and polar explorer Pen Hadow whose trip to measure the remaining polar sea ice last year was sponsored by the Green Guardian project.
Green Guardian founder and the group editor of the South London Guardian series, Sean Duggan, said:
“I am delighted that I am standing here tonight in a room full of environmental heroes from right across South London.
Who knows what brain cells will light-up tonight and what new relationships will be formed?
We are all in this together and the more closely we work together, the more quickly we can turn south London into a sustainable place to live and work.”
One example of this networking on the night was the fact that representatives from the national environmental campaign 10:10 who attended are planning to use a number of the Green Guardian winners as role models in the campaing, including the overall Green Project winner, Hermione Taylor, who has created a website justsaving.org allowing people to sponsor someone with eco savings rather than money.
At the end of the evening Lucy said she was deeply moved by the event which was “from the heart” and the level of commitment and creativity shown by the winners, which would help inspire her columns in the Observer and elsewhere over the coming weeks.
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