A CAMPAIGN which brings the community together has been celebrated at an awards ceremony.

Talk to Me Worcester encouraged individuals, community groups and organisations, schools and companies to organise events to tackle loneliness and social exclusion in the community.

The awards ceremony, which was held at Worcester Guildhall on Thursday, celebrated the efforts of 38 events which were registered.

Worcester's mayor, Cllr Jabba Riaz, handed out four awards for the most inclusive, innovative and fun events registered with the campaign.

Nicola Longworth-Cook won an individual award, while Love the Arboretum Project, which saw homes decorated with lights for a weekend, won the community award.

Redpoint Worcester, a climbing centre in the city, won the corporate award and the Pancake Race, where neighbours enjoyed a race, won the street award.

John Waddoups, who registered the Pancake Race, said: “Where I live you see people and wave, but you don’t know their name.

"The idea of the event was to get neighbours to meet up, find out their names and have a chat.

"It was brilliant - 22 people turned up. We are planning a follow-up barbecue soon with everybody.”

The campaign ran for 10 weeks and in total 38 events were registered.

Chris Watkins, the brainchild behind the campaign, said: “The awards reflect courageous and inspirational people who were not afraid to get out of their comfort zone and invite others to come along.”

Basia Ligas, community cohesion officer at Worcester City Council said: “I am very pleased with the 38 projects that were registered. "I would like to thank everyone who got involved and put so much effort into their events. It was interesting to see so many events created purely for the Talk to Me Worcester campaign.”

Talk to Me Worcester was initially a one-off event to bring people together but high levels of interest turned it into a 10-week campaign.