October 13, 2012
Fareham plumber wins £1,500 BPEC Charity Life award
Hampshire plumber John Booth has won £1,500 in an awards scheme which rewards projects that use plumbing skills to enhance life.
The BPEC Charity has announced John as the winner of its Merit Award.
John, from Green Walk, Fareham, was presented with the award for his involvement in the Peace & Hope Trust’s charity work in Nicaragua.
John has self-financed two trips to Nicaragua since 2003, he has been involved in supervising plumbing projects that have helped to collect rainwater and provide safe, clean drinking water. A number of other developments have also been introduced, such as a toilet to separate urine and faeces, which helps with crop fertilisation.
Each expedition costs £1,500 and the award will allow John to visit Nicaragua again to help continue the work, which is part of the reconciliation and construction programme started in 1990 following an earthquake in 1971 and the civil war in the 1980s which left the Central American country impoverished.
It was one of four awards totalling almost £30,000 presented by the BPEC Charity – the charitable arm of BPEC, which is the leading training and certification provider to the building services engineering sector.
They were announced at an awards ceremony attended by 100 representatives of the plumbing industry at Pride Park Stadium, Derby, on October 24th 2012. The awards, in memory of BPEC’s founding chairman Raymond J Brooks, were presented by the Charity’s Trustees.
Other awards were given to Lee Firth and his team of apprentices, NG Bailey Engineering Academy, Leeds, for the design of a project that will deliver a safe water system to a health clinic in Cobue, Mozambique; Burnley College for a project to take apprentice plumbers to Uganda to work alongside a village community to build wells to provide safe, clean drinking water; and Martin Biron and his associates from the College of North West London for the creation of a virtual plumbing college online to support plumbing students, teachers and the wider general public in understanding the key principles and processes of the plumbing industry.
BPEC chairman Frank Glover said: “BPEC is delighted to have presented four separate awards at our inaugural BPEC Charity Life Awards event. Each of the award winning entries has shown how plumbing can make a difference to life, and we congratulate John for being amongst this year’s winners.”
Now the hunt has started for applicants for next year’s BPEC Charity Life Awards, with organisers urging those who work in the plumbing sector to put themselves forward.
“There are so many ways in which plumbing skills can enhance life,” said Frank Glover. “It may be through product invention, an innovative solution or service, a charitable plumbing activity or project, raising the image of plumbing or a change in perspective. We hope that this year’s winners will provide inspiration to others who could be award winners in 2013.”
BPEC, which was established in 1992, is the leading provider of training and certification for the building services engineering sector, which covers the gas, oil, plumbing, electrotechnical, heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration industries.
The organisation’s training materials range from technical training packs for domestic gas safety and water regulations to a selection of renewable energies manuals such as solar thermal hot water and heat pumps.
BPEC is dedicated to education and lifelong learning, and seeks to encourage individuals to undertake further training to continuously update their skills, both for personal development and to keep abreast of the industry’s technological advances.
Its charitable arm – The BPEC Charity – launched the Life Award in 2012 to reward and support those in the UK plumbing industry who use plumbing skills to enhance life.
To find out more about entering next year’s Life Awards visit https://bpec.org.uk/the-bpec-charity/