Angela Davies

A single mother from a deprived community in the North East, Angela made exceptional efforts to develop herself and those around her. She is passionate about the development of young people and giving them opportunities to shine, which is reflected in her achievements - establishing a teenage mum's drop-in centre, empowering young mothers to set up their own groups and motivating young people to take action to improve their local communities. Starting as a volunteer at a local charity, her hard work and dedication enabled her to rise to be its Chief Executive, and since take up a high profile job developing co-operative businesses nationwide. In 2008, Angela's eldest child Rachel was shot and killed with an airgun. Despite the devastation, she spent time consoling her daughter's friends, and handled the court cases and media attention with such dignity that she was given a special award by Greater Manchester Police. She used money raised in lieu of flowers to build a house for AIDS orphans in Uganda (named Rachel's House in memoriam) and to support a theatre company for young people in her hometown of Bury - her fundraising for these organisations is ongoing. Angela is a courageous person, with extraordinary generosity of spirit who would make an inspirational torch-bearer.