We're thrilled to announce that our CEO, Lily Axworthy, has received the Langton Award for Community Service as part of The Lambeth Awards 2024.
Congratulations to Lily and a huge thanks to everyone who has supported the work of Greater Together Manchester over the years.
The citation for this award says:
For her outstanding contribution to the relief of poverty in Greater Manchester and Rossendale.
In 2015, at age 25, as Greater Together Manchester’s (GTM) first Development Worker, Lily Axworthy, moved by scenes of poverty and homelessness, set up the Greater Manchester Winter Night Shelter. Guests, who would otherwise be sleeping rough, were invited to sit down with volunteers to eat a hot meal every night and supported during the day to find new accommodation and to access benefits.
Lily became the first CEO of GTM in 2019 and has overseen significant growth and impact of the organisation across the Diocese of Manchester. Whilst night shelters in Manchester have now closed following the COVID-19 pandemic, Lily has found ways to continue supporting people experiencing homelessness (and other forms of poverty) through new programmes and services. Working in areas of financial and material poverty, homelessness, mental health and wellbeing, loneliness and isolation, Lily has led GTM’s small central staff team and large network of volunteers to develop partnerships with churches, diocesan and national church bodies, local authorities, and other voluntary sector organisations with vision and determination in the face of growing need and diminishing financial resources.
Lily’s work is recognised nationally through the Church Urban Fund (to which GTM is affiliated through the Together Network) and she has regularly been invited to contribute to thinking and action at national level. Her contribution to the relief of distress amongst the most disadvantaged in her area has been outstanding.