COUNTDOWN is now well under way for this year's Wirral Volunteer of the Year Award - there are just three weeks left before the closing date!

Entries are now arriving at a steady rate, but Wirral Council for Voluntary Service (CVS), organisers of the prestigious annual award, have reiterated their call for members of the public not to wait until the last moment to submit their nominations.

Angela Green, who co-ordinates the event, along with colleague Tony Sandwell, for the CVS, told me: "Although three weeks might seem a long time, Easter falls in that period and we are anxious that everyone who wants to nominate a volunteer does so.

"We really would like as many volunteers as possible to be nominated, not just the 'shining lights'."

'Hearts of gold' have been put forward by members of the public in all categories, but the organisers, in particular, would like to see more names being put forward for this the Specialist Category, which this year recognises an individual or group whose contribution of one-to-one support has enabled others to overcome difficulties in their lives.

Said Angela: "The Wirral Volunteer of the Year Award is a wonderful, and rare, opportunity for ordinary people to say 'thank you' to those who work tirelessly, and voluntarily, for the benefit of either individuals or the community. We want the public to put their thinking caps on and put pen to paper . . ."

It is you, the Wirral public, who will decide which of the peninsula's hundreds of 'hearts of gold' will become only the fifth person to receive the overall accolade at a special presentation night in June.

The Award is sponsored for the third successive year by NatWest Bank and is open to people who are resident in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and who have received no previous major public recognition.

The Award again has six categories (listed right) from which an overall winner will be chosen.

But don't delay too long - the closing date of Saturday, April 24 is looming fast!

Nomination forms are available at all local CVS offices, Wirral libraries, leisure and community centres and also at the Wirral Globe offices in Catherine Street, Birkenhead.

The Six Categories:

1: Unemployed.

2: Employed (for volunteering in own time).

3: Younger person (under 25).

4: Older person (over 65).

5: Disabled person.

6: Specialist Category for 1999 - The "Made a Difference" Award (to recognise an individual or group whose contribution of one-to-one support has enabled others to overcome difficulties in their lives).

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.