Darren's personal invitation from Housing Minister as he is named 'Most Inspirational Colleague' at UK Housing Awards

Darren Wilkinson, a maintenance technician for Guinness Northern Counties, has been named the 'Most Inspirational Colleague' at the UK Housing Awards - and received a surprise invitation from Housing Minister John Healey to come and spend a day at his department for Communities and Local Government (CLG).

The Minister told the audience at the event at the London Hilton on Wednesday 11 November that he would like the winner of the UKHA inspirational colleague award to offer him their advice.

'I'd would like to invite the winner of this award to come into the department and spend a day with us in the CLG, because we can all do with a little bit of inspiration and innovative thinking, and I'm looking for it as well,' he said.

He was nominated by his employer for his tireless commitment to working with and inspiring young people from the local area.

Some of the projects he has led on include taking a group of ten 12-16 year olds on a 150 mile bike ride through Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, cycling by day and camping at night.

In August 2009, he and volunteers from Guinness Northern Counties, Amber Valley Housing, and Derby County Council Youth Service took another group up of 22 teenagers from Alfreton up Britain's three highest mountains in just 5 days.

"It's all about providing a challenging opportunity that the young people can really go for and prove what they're capable of," said Darren.

"Many of the young people taking part live in Guinness Northern Counties homes and are involved in our successful Dreamscheme project. Dreamscheme is all about encouraging young people to get involved in projects that benefit the local community in return for rewards such as trips out."

Chartered Institute of Housing Vice President Paddy Gray said: "We were touched by this journey of altruistic endeavour and self sacrifice for the benefit of the current and next generation of residents. Working in his own time and actively giving back to his community, Darren is an inspiration to all of us."

John Cockerham, Director of Neighbourhood Services at Guinness Northern Counties said: "Darren is a truly inspirational colleague and we are incredibly proud that people like him, who make such a difference to the lives of our customers and communities, should be recognised in this way.

"Through the DreamScheme project, Darren has channelled the energy of local youngsters into working in the community. Not only has the level of youth nuisance significantly reduced since the DreamScheme was introduced, but through the project he and the young people have made real improvements to the environment and the local community."

Examples of this include laying a path for the public through an overgrown open space and erecting a fencing area so that elderly residents could dry their washing as well as more general environmental works such as litter picking and gardening.

"Darren has become a positive role model to many of the young people and has also had a positive influence on those who volunteer on the project" said John Cockerham. "In 2007 one long-term unemployed volunteer was able to use the skills and confidence he had gained by working with Darren on the DreamScheme to obtain full-time employment."

Darren, his wife and his colleagues from Guinness Northern Counties travelled to London on Wednesday for the glittering awards lunch at London's Park Lane Hilton, which was attended by over 600 people. His surprise at winning was doubled when he received the invitation from the Housing Minister which Darren said he "would definitely be taking up."

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