'This award should be shared between all the neighbours' - mum wins community safety award (From Borehamwood Times)

Borehamwood resident Lisa Hunter wins Dave Rankin Community Safety award at Hertsmere Civic Offices

2:10pm Tuesday 12th March 2013 in News By Anna Slater

A mum who rallied her neighbours to stop teenage bullies running riot down her street has been named a local hero.

Lisa Hunter, of Alban Crescent, Borehamwood, was handed the Dave Rankin award for community safety at the Mayor’s Civic Awards dinner on Saturday.

She worked with the council, police and housing association Affinity Sutton to make sure the yobs were handed anti-social behaviour orders.

But despite her award, she is keen to make sure her neighbours take most of the credit, saying she could have “never done it alone”.

She added: “I just wanted my street back the way it was. This was a collective thing and we all worked together as a community – it was by no means something I did myself.

“This award should not just be mine, it should be shared between all of the neighbours and I like to think we all pulled together to win it.

“If you don’t stand up to it, it continues. We all got fed up with watching our street being targeted but we can’t let them beat us.

“It was a lovely award to win and I am very grateful.”

Residents in the area decided to act after constantly having bricks thrown at their homes, burglaries and taunts in the street.

They managed to get four injunctions and a six-month dispersal order put in place in the area over the summer.

The Dave Rankin Award for improving community safety in Hertsmere is awarded in tribute to Dave Rankin, Hertsmere’s Neighbourhood Police Inspector, who died unexpectedly in 2009.

During the ceremony, teenage martial arts instructor Amber Gill was the youngest person to be handed a civic award.

She began helping out during the Saturday morning classes for her Duke of Edinburgh award last year, and was then asked to be an assistant teacher.

The 16-year-old was named as “a valued member of the team, who is well liked by children, parents and teachers”.

Reverend Richard Leslie, vicar and founder of Hertsmere Forum of Faiths was also handed an award for “relating to every member of the group, on an individual and collective level”.

Borehamwood resident Audrey Lambert, a poppy appeal collector – who volunteers with war veterans despite having had major heart surgery – was also named a winner.

And war veteran 93-year-old Bill Davies was the oldest person to win the award, for sharing his wartime memories with school children across the borough.