Warminster’s community heroes have been recognised in the inaugural Warminster Journal’s Group and Person of the Year 2025 awards.
The winners were Warminster Open Door who run the Chat Cafes and cancer, prostate cancer and grief and bereavement support groups; and local volunteer Debs Gogarty, Chair of the Health and Well-being group – which campaigned for a third pharmacy in the town and for the return of the breast screening cancer unit – and a volunteer with Warminster Open Door and at Bath Cats and Dogs Home.
The awards were set up this year by the Warminster Journal to recognise contributions to the town over the past year with nominations from coming from readers, and winners being chosen by Warminster Mayor Andrew Cooper and Journal Editor Ian Drew.
Thrilled
“The group was thrilled at receiving the Group of the Year Award,” said Marion Barton, a trustee at Warminster Open Door. “Many of our volunteers expressed surprise at being chosen for what they do as we enjoy being part of our café and look forward to our time together.
“The Cafes provide an opportunity for our visitors to get together, share their news and concerns over a coffee. It seems so simple but it is enabling people to be together, enjoying each other’s company and feeling part of the community. For those who are affected by cancer or bereaved, it is being with others who empathise, can understand and have an opportunity to talk.
“We are very fortunate to have a team of dedicated volunteers but we are always looking for more to support us, especially those who are willing to be ‘chatters’.
“Thank you to all our funders and those who donate to us, as without their financial support and our volunteers we would not be able to provide the Cafes.”
Very surprised
Person of the Year winner Debs Gogarty said, “I was very surprised when I heard that I had been nominated – let alone selected. Like many volunteers there is a selfish element to my volunteering work – I enjoy meeting people and the sense of achievement that goes with making a contribution. So, when someone says ‘thank you’, it can feel a little weird – essentially being thanked for having fun!
“Like most charities, Warminster Open Door and Health and Wellbeing strive to rebalance mismatched needs – whether that’s loneliness or barriers to good health services. It’s challenging work because we rely on volunteers and grant funding to keep going. But as a colleague once said, ‘If charity work was easy, the public sector would do it!’
“I also volunteer for Bath Cats and Dogs Home – the goal here is the same as with the ‘human’ charities: to rebalance needs in this case by taking in unwanted, discarded pets, rebuilding their trust and showing them that people can and do care for them.
“Most recently with a colleague I also started a village newsletter (in Upton Lovell) to help build a greater sense of community. It’s been warmly received which I think just underlines how important social connection is for all of us.
“The best moments of the year for me were welcoming new Trustees onto the Board at Open Door, Warminster – a charity I helped found. To know that others support the charity’s aims and are happy to volunteer their time and skills in its support is incredibly rewarding. I was also amazed at the energy coming from colleagues on the Health and Wellbeing team, relentlessly pursuing aims such as the third pharmacy in Warminster and most recently the call to get the breast screening cancer unit back into Warminster.”
Other nominations for the Group of the Year were Sustainable Warminster and Warminster Wellbeing Hub while other the Person of the Year nominations were Tanya Hinton who painted the wildlife mural on the storage shed at Smallbrook Meadows Nature Reserve; James Stone, chairman of Warminster Football Club and chair of governors at Kingdown School; Matt Towl who helped to establish the Warminster Business Network and Warminster Independent Market; Chris Darker, founder and Head Coach of Warminster Boxing Academy; Sue Chinnock, the lead coffee morning volunteer at the Chat Cafe; Jack Jones, town councillor and Deputy Mayor and a volunteer at Sustainable Warminster and the Athenaeum; and Dave Crump who drives the No. 50 bus in the town.
