Names of local heroes to be screened at Chester Racecourse fireworks display

During the pandemic lockdowns in 2020, Chester MP Chris Matheson worked with local civic participation group ‘Good for Nothing’ to collect nominations for Chester’s community heroes.

Mr Matheson explained: “One of my lasting memories of the pandemic will always be that so many people in Chester stepped up to support people in their community.

"I wanted to do something to mark this very human desire to support each other in a crisis and that’s where the ‘project a hero’ project came from.

“We asked people to nominate residents and had planned to project the names on to the side of Chester castle last November. Due to new public health restrictions this wasn’t possible, but I am delighted that the names will now be displayed on the big screens at the racecourse during the firework display.”

The Lord Mayor’s Firework Display takes place at Chester Racecourse on Saturday, November 6.

It is a charity event that shares proceeds between charities chosen by the Lord Mayor of Chester, plus the Chester Lions and the Share Charity which helps homeless people in Chester.

This year’s event has already sold out, but anyone who nominated a Covid community hero has been written to so that they can let the person they nominated know that free tickets have been set aside for them to claim.

Holly Nelson and Uná Meehan, Good for Nothing Chester co-leads.

Una Meehan from Chester’s ‘Good for Nothing’ group said: “As a civic participation group, we promote the idea that people can give their skills and knowledge to do good in their community.

"With so many on furlough during the lockdowns, it was fantastic to see so many people use their skills to switch to being a ‘community leader’ almost overnight.

"We have been really pleased to work with Chris on this project and we hope that we can find other places to project the names of our Chester community heroes during the run up to Christmas.”

More than 100 people took part, and the nominations were spread across the full geography of the city.

Mr Matheson added: “Whether it was the young lad in Huntington who baked cakes for his neighbours, or all the voluntary groups and businesses that cooked food for those who are homeless or were isolating, then there was the knitters and sewers that made scrub bags, masks and other equipment for key workers, and the everyday folks who simply started a WhatsApp Group on their street and looked after each other – these are the stories that I have heard time and again.

"Our list will be by no means exhaustive, and we will all know a community hero in our area, but this list of names does represent the spirit of our city, and we will always be grateful for everything people did to help others."