Halifax charity celebrates winning a National Creative Learning Award

Grow Big, which provides unique sensory play experiences for disadvantaged young children, has been awarded the Early Years award.

Read: Take a tour around the Halifax business centre with its own roof top garden and slideRachel Stewart said: “We feel privileged and honoured to have won in the Early Years category from the many entries the Creative Learning Guild received.

"I hope this award will help promote the important role sensory play has on healthy child development”

Gilly Bryerley, Managing Director of award organisers, The Creative Learning Guild, said: “On behalf of all here, I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to all of the winners in the National Creative Learning Awards.

"There is so much talent and dedication in the world of creative learning, with practitioners taking on enormous responsibility, working long hours with almost no down time, and often for little financial reward. We want these awards to recognise these un-sung heroes and support them in their ongoing fight for creativity.“

The new national Creative Learning Awards celebrate the inspirational innovators, educators and practitioners who live and breathe creative learning.

The awards range across 15 categories, including formal education, the arts and creative business.

Read: Halifax safety barrier experts A-SAFE named Manufacturer of the YearThe awards are organised by The Creative Learning Guild a charity based in Yorkshire that supports the grassroots creative learning movement across the UK through a Guild membership scheme and the new awards.

Ruth Gamble, Head of Programmes, said: "The Guild is a fellowship; a membership of passionate and like minded people.

"By becoming a member and nominating their creative heroes, people and organisations have committed to support creative learning, and each other in this fight for recognition and validation”.

The judging panel include an Olivier award winning theatre producer, a representative from the international Lego Foundation, leading disability arts professional; Ruth Gould and acclaimed poet Ian McMillan.

Read: Halifax prepares to welcome back Tour de Yorkshire in 50 days timeBAFTA winning judge Rob Young said: “The clues in the title, Creative Learning Awards. Creative because every single entry seeks to innovate and find new ways to overcome a myriad of challenges.

"Learning, because every initiative is wrought from failure, resilience, evolution and triumph. For me, there are no winners, just a fine bunch of people who have earned our respect through graft, craft and… something else, something elusive and very difficult to define. In their own modest way, they have shown us the best that humanity can be.”