The Times Sternberg Active Life Awards 2025: Winners show the passion of over 70s changes lives for the better

These Awards are given annually to ‘celebrate outstanding contributions of people to their community and to public life, made after their 70th birthday’. To my utter astonishment, the Judges had chosen to give me one of this year’s six awards.

The winners

I listened to Baroness Altmann as she spoke about the work of the other five winners and marvelled at what they had achieved.

The overall winner was Dr Denis Durno MBE – aged 89 and a retired GP – who founded The Bread Maker in Aberdeen, which provides meaningful work for adults with learning difficulties. He has helped 200 people, including his own two sons, both of whom have cerebral palsy.

Roey Burden set up the Coroners Courts Support Service https://coronerscourtssupportservice.org.uk to offer emotional support and practical help to bereaved families, witnesses and others attending an Inquest. The Service now has 370 volunteers in 49 courts.

Dr Ben Essex – another retired GP – trained to become a volunteer for IPSEA https://www.ipsea.org.uk the charity which provides legal advice and support for parents who need to obtain assessments and special provisions - to which they are legal entitled - for children with special educations needs and disabilities (SEND).

Sarah Hosking was nominated for her extraordinary dedication to supporting women artists and writers. The Hosking Houses Trust https://hoskinghouses.org.uk was created to provide short-term residencies in a small 18 th century cottage in Clifford Chambers, two miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon. Funding is being raised to buy a second cottage.

Ivan Lyons created Joe’s Buddy Line https://joesbuddyline.org in memory of his son – Joe – who died by suicide. The charity offers workshops for Primary School Children up to University-level, run by mental health professionals to protect the mental health of young people.

Then there was me! As the youngest of the winners – 76 on 11 May – Baroness Altmann described me as a ‘Spring Chicken’! I was hugely honoured and humbled as she read the citation about my work raising awareness of Charles Bonnet Syndrome through Esme’s Umbrella https://www.charlesbonnetsyndrome.uk

A reflection …

The ceremony highlighted how many of the older generation continue to work long after retirement age. I know we are not the only ones out there, working for nothing, but with great determination and drive. There are so many gaps in the market of public and charitable life, which need to be filled - and it is charities and organisations like ours who are doing exactly this.

Some – like myself and two of my fellow winners – have been inspired by the experience of a family member. Whether it was the tragic suicide of a young person, learning difficulties which would hamper the prospect of a job, or Charles Bonnet Syndrome which has been mis-diagnosed and under-researched but experienced by over 1 million children and adults, we were all determined to prevent the same thing happening to others.

Launching and then running a small charity takes as many hours as you are prepared to devote to the work. Not everybody understands that your charity is not just a ‘hobby’ but a serious business. The passion to make the strides which will change lives is what drives us on. It is not easy and there are days of despair but just when you think enough is enough, something happens which makes it all worthwhile.

Lastly …

My certificate has pride of place as does the present from Jeremy Griffin, Executive Editor of The Times, who gave us all a replica of the front page of The Times on the day we were born. Of course, in those days the paper was a broadsheet and the front page was a series of personal advertisements and announcements. Absolutely fascinating to read – even if now I need a magnifying glass to do so!