A CREWE care home's experience coordinator has been awarded a prestigious national prize.

Natalie Ravenscroft, who works at the Belong Crewe care village, was named Activity Personality of the Year 2020 by the National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) during a virtual ceremony.

The awards recognise outstanding achievement amongst its members from care providers across the UK.

Natalie said: "I'm overwhelmed, I feel so proud and it has given me even more passion to keep doing what I'm doing. Activities have such a positive impact on older people's wellbeing and I can't thank my team enough for their hard work and support, especially during these challenging times."

Natalie, who comes from a family of care workers, took up the post of experience coordinator at the Brookhouse Drive care village in spring 2018.

She has spearheaded a number of successful initiatives, while building strong local links which have made her a well-known face in the community.

Most recently, she helped launch a call-out to the Crewe community to support the town's Remembrance Sunday, next month, with the village working alongside Crewe Town Council to curate donations of red handprints.

These can be provided in any form – painted, coloured, card and photographed contributions – and will be used to symbolise poppies to help mark the national commemoration event on November 8.

Natalie has also worked closely with the LGBT+ community, helping to host Crewe's first ever Silver Pride event at the village in 2018, and with Bluecoat, Liverpool's centre for contemporary arts, as part of a joint research project to use the arts to improve the lives of those with dementia.

Last month, Belong residents celebrated Arts in Care Homes Day by taking on the role of life models to recreate some of the world's most iconic portraits, including works by Picasso, Van Gough and Frida Kahlo.

Any members of the public who would like to contribute red handprints for the town's Remembrance Sunday display should send these to Belong Crewe (Brookhouse Drive, Crewe, CW2 6NA) by October 23.