Joanna Lumley honoured at Third Sector awards

Lumley with her award

Actress Joanna Lumley has won the Celebrity Charity Champion Award at Britain’s Most Admired Charities Awards last night.

Lumley, who was on hand to receive award for her work to secure UK residence rights for former Gurkhas, said: “I can’t tell you what this award means to me. I’m so thrilled and so proud.”

Previous Celebrity Charity Champion winner Duncan Bannatyne, the Dragon’s Den panellist, presented Lumley with the award at a ceremony at Barclay’s London headquarters.

The Most Admired Chief Executive Award went to Changing Faces’ James Patridge. He suffered an accident as a child that left his face severely scarred, and in November he read the TV news on Channel Five for a week to raise awareness of facial disfigurement. Channel Five was at the awards to film footage of Patridge’s win for an upcoming documentary about his work.

The winners were chosen by a vote of chief executives from across the charitable sector. A video of the awards night and a full picture gallery are available on the Third Sector website.