Pride of Britain Awards

1999 Winner Rhys and Charly Daniels Rhys Daniels lost his fight for life against the crippling illness Batten’s disease just before Christmas, and his sister Charly died soon afterwards. Charly was 10 and Rhys passed a week before his eighth birthday. Towards the end, neither child could speak, hear or move. They needed round-the-clock care […]

1999 Winner Sarah Dinsdale It was a December morning when Sarah Dinsdale and her mum Diane decided to go Christmas shopping.  But their car spun out of control as it hit black ice. It plunged down a steep bank and flipped upside-down into the fast-flowing freezing currents of the River Clough. The terrified mum and […]

1999 Winner Sandra Howard Sandra Howard’s 20-year-old son Gareth is severely epileptic. When she discovered a revolutionary new treatment that was not available on the NHS, she decided to raise the money herself. The operation and the fund-raising were both a tremendous success. Gareth, 20, used to suffer up to 15 major fits every day. […]

1999 Winner Lucy-Rae Tamulevicus Lucy-Rae has endured more pain and suffering in her young life than most of us could ever imagine. She was just 10 months old when she was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer, neuroblastoma, which affects the nervous system. Doctors found a tumour in her chest, which was treated […]

1999 Winner Kevin Dingle, Mike Edkins and Paul Pollington It was evening on September 6 1998 and light was fading fast when the Port Isaac Lifeboat rescue unit received a mayday call. A child had fallen from rocks into the sea, his father had dived in to rescue him and both were trapped. They had […]

1999 Winner Helen Ridding Helen Ridding took on a challenge few teachers would contemplate when she accepted a job at one of the worst primary schools in the country. Pupils hurled missiles around and education chiefs would only allow a class to go ahead if two teachers were present, because the pupils were so disruptive. […]