Inspirational Lauren wins award for helping Harrogate schoolchildren to stay safe

Lauren Doherty, 31, who is still paralysed more than a decade after a horrific road accident, was presented with the Unsung Hero 2019 award at the Leeds United Centenary Pavilion in front of an audience of more than 400 people.

Receiving it for the incredible success of her Road Safety Talks, Lauren said: “It was an overwhelming feeling to be recognised as an Unsung Hero at the Yorkshire Young Achievers Awards.

"I have always wanted to try to help reduce the number of people who are injured on our roads by highlighting my mistake 11 years ago and I don’t do any of this for recognition, so to be awarded such a prestigious award, as with any award, for doing the work I do and get so back much personally from doing it, meant so much."

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Lauren continued: "It was a great night and I really enjoyed having everyone with me who has been there from the start of the Road Safety Talks project.

"We met some lovely people and heard the inspirational stories of the other award winners, who were all very deserving of their award."

It’s not the first time Lauren, who lives in Knaresborough, has been recognised for her bravery in passing on her experiences to a total so far of more than 5,000 local schoolchildren and adults in order to keep them safe on the roads.

This year has already seen her winning three other awards - Yorkshire Choice Awards Volunteer of the Year, The SIA Rebuilding Lives Members Choice’ Award and Volunteer of the Year award in The Harrogate District Volunteer Oscars.

So popular are her talks at schools and businesses in the Harrogate district and further afield, that Road Safety Talks is now a registered Charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

And Lauren is shortly to get her own office where her talks will be streamed live when she is unable to travel.

Lauren was one of seven young people to be recognised for their talent and determination at the 27th Yorkshire Young Achievers Awards, held at Leeds United’s Centenary Pavilion.

Undefeated Leeds boxer Josh Warrington stepped up to take the Personality of the Year title in front of almost 400 guests.

27th Yorkshire Young Achievers Awards

The winners were:

Personality of the Year: Josh Warrington of Leeds;

Youngster of the Year: Archie Boyne of Leeds;

Achievement in the Arts: Daisy Watt of Doncaster;

Achievement in Management and Enterprise: Katie Mountain, of Leeds;

Achievement in Sport: Courtney Hill of Leeds Rhinos Women;

Achievement in Education: Taylor Hogan of Leeds;

Unsung Hero: Lauren Doherty of Knaresborough;

Special Award: Simon Nabarro of Leeds.

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