Fortuna Female Society<\/a>, whose mission is to tackle social isolation and create community for women across Widnes and Runcorn. The charity\u2019s strapline says it plainly: Connect, Rise and Thrive.<\/p>\nThe evening was hosted by celebrant Kirstie Atherton. The Mayor of Halton, Councillor Pamela Wallace, opened proceedings. The Mayor has named Fortuna Female Society as one of her two chosen charities for her 2026\/27 mayoral year.<\/p>\n
Fortuna Female Society founder Laura Bevan said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were absolutely blown away by this year\u2019s entries. As in previous years, we cannot thank the Jo Cox Foundation enough for helping us recognise and celebrate our very worthy winners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have once again been amazed by the incredible work being carried out by women across Halton, in workplaces, in communities and beyond. The passion, dedication and positive impact of these women is truly inspiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year felt particularly poignant as we remembered Jo Cox MP for Batley and Spen, ten years on from her tragic murder, and paid tribute to her powerful More in Common message. Her legacy continues to remind us of the importance of kindness, community and celebrating the people who make a difference every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
All seven winners were chosen independently by the Jo Cox Foundation.<\/p>\n
The 2026 Queens of Halton Award Winners<\/p>\n
Jo Cox Make a Difference
\nAward, sponsored by Soroptimists International Widnes: Pauline
\nRuth<\/p>\n
Rising Star Award,
\nsponsored by Sisterella: Georgia
\nFlaherty<\/p>\n
Ray of Light Award,
\nsponsored by LetsRoar: Alex
\nMyers<\/p>\n
Community Leader of the
\nYear, sponsored by Culture26 Made in Halton: Reverend
\nLinda Dawkin<\/p>\n
Woman in Business Award,
\nsponsored by Halton Business Investment and Growth Team: Daisy
\nHealey<\/p>\n
Volunteer of the Year
\nAward, sponsored by Halton & St Helens Community Action: Laura
\nBromley<\/p>\n
Queen of Culture Award,
\nsponsored by Culture26 Made in Halton: Rachel
\nPrime<\/p>\n
The
\nQueens of Halton Awards are now in their third year at DCBL Stadium
\nHalton. Entry was free, as it always will be. Removing barriers to
\nattendance matters to Fortuna Female Society, and that is made
\npossible by the generosity of its sponsors.<\/p>\n
Principal
\nsponsor of the evening was Regent Business Club. Further support came
\nfrom table sponsor Emris Services, booklet sponsor Halton Business
\nInvestment and Growth Team, and the category sponsors listed
\nalongside each award above.<\/p>\n
Guests
\nwere welcomed by the dancing disco ballhead greeters from Alibi
\nProductions. Following the awards, the celebration continued with chip
\nbutties, a raffle, and live music from the Sax Pistols.<\/p>\n
All photos credit: Little Wonderland Photography<\/a>\u00a0used with permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fortuna Female Society celebrates the women changing their community at a full house at DCBL Stadium Halton Seven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-285654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}