Hundreds out for Unity 101 awards

On Friday, more than 300 guests including volunteers from the station, as well as partners from the private, public and voluntary sectors, attended the celebratory awards evening hosted by community radio station Unity 101 at The Grand Harbour Hotel.

The evening saw a wide variety of awards given out, celebrating the work of the volunteers and partners at the station which is marking its 13th birthday.

Among those to be handed out were the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award and awards for those who nurture and inspire young talent.

The lifetime achievement honour went to Ahmed Sasso MBE. He joined Hampshire Constabulary in 1992 and in 2005 he was elected as the National Secretary of the National Black Police Association.

The award was presented by Neil Odin, chief fire officer at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Daniel Briard, the deputy head teacher at Itchen Sixth Form College; Morgan Storey, an IT and media teacher at Barton Peveril Sixth Form College; and Riley Challinder, the curriculum lead for drama, and Joshua Falconer, the head of Richard Taunton Sixth Form College were also honoured on the night for inspiring and nurturing young talent.

Project and station manager, Ram ‘Kelly’ Kalyan said: “At Unity 101 Community Radio, we’re committed to sharing the cultures and traditions of Southampton’s Asian and ethnic communities.

“Bringing together people from all works of life is central to our vision.

“We will continue in 2019 to work closely with all organisations to enable us to unite all communities.

“We are like a family here and we will carry on bringing people in our community together.”

Last year the station held a number of community events, including the ‘Hands of Love’ event, which helped to celebrate the 70th birthday of the NHS.

The community radio station football team also proved a great success on the pitch in 2018 after the Unity 101 Football Club took home won the City of Southampton Football League title.