The High Sheriff’s Awards ceremony is set to go ahead later this month, despite the coronavirus.
The awards ceremony which honours the outstanding contributions of the County’s volunteers, charities and community groups had been due to take place in person on March 26.
With large gatherings having now been cancelled the decision was made not to hold the physical event.
With Radio Suffolk’s Lesley Dolphin one of those presenting the awards the decision was made to broadcast the ceremony over the airwaves for the first time.
The show will be now be broadcast from 7pm on March 26, live on Radio Suffolk.
The event is created and organised every year by Suffolk Community Foundation, their head of public affairs Tim Holder said: “This annual event is genuinely one of the most moving and inspiring occasions in the Suffolk calendar.
“In previous years we would now be putting the final preparations in place for a glittering awards ceremony for several hundred people at the beautiful Wherstead Park HQ of our event hosts - East of England Co-op.
“It would be so easy to simply say ‘not this year’, but with the help of our sponsors and our friends at BBC Radio Suffolk, the folks at East Anglian Daily Times, we think we’ve found a way not just to save the event this year, but to reach a much larger audience to celebrate with.”
Among the seven awards which are set to be presented on the night are volunteer of the year, the caring for the environment award and the road to recovery award.
The High Sheriff of Suffolk Roz Eminson said: “I feel that it’s important that this annual thank you should not simply fall to the wayside in the wake of the COVID 19 virus.
“Our team has been thinking of all sorts of ways to do things differently and to keep everyone safe, but sometimes out of adversity comes a sense of community.
“The idea to go live on the radio means that everyone can still celebrate the vital work of our local charities and volunteers, but what we need now is for the whole of Suffolk to tune in and take to their social media channels to bring us together and celebrate something positive.”
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