Accolade or action

I won a police charity work award called The Sharon Loveitt Trophy on September 24, and then on Friday, September 26 I won an inaugural Pride of Birmingham Award.

It was an honour to receive the Sharon Loveitt Trophy as it was in remembrance of a police officer who died whilst in service. Very personal and special.

The Pride of Brum award night was special too. Meeting lots of celebrities and having my award presented by Roy Wood and Ali Campbell.

Gabby Roslin then handed me the mic and I told the story from one of my earlier blogs about the homeless man who died. It was deathly quiet in the audience.

As I am 50 very soon, Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath then appeared. Not in a puff of smoke type way, but he walked on stage and presented me with a signed copy of a Hollywood Bowl poster from his personal collection. As a Sabbath fan this was truly memorable.

Several stars signed socks for us in the hope we can auction them off to help buy more socks.

It was sad to see a homeless man watching as we walked down the red carpet largely being ignored. Obviously I went over and he was delighted for the winners. The lesson being that although he was getting agitated as no one would explain to him what was happening, once someone acknowledged him he was fine.

I won the Fundraiser of the Year Award. This made me giggle as I collect socks and chocolates with my team and inspire other people to do the same. Not much cash at all. Other people had raised a lot of money.

Socks and Chocs is accessible and empowers everyone to do something. We don't usually take cash but we have set up a crowd funding site to help us buy sleeping bags. If anyone wants to donate cash they can do so here.

To reiterate, we prefer you to run your own collections and help centres where you live but this is just an option. Every penny we get goes to buying our target items - we take nothing in expenses.

So what does getting an award mean? Well, it is lovely to be recognised and all of the winners' stories were so inspirational. There can't have been a dry eye in the house.

But, there is a but. Winning an award for me is a means to publicise Socks and Chocs. If it does not result in more people doing their bit then it has limited use. It was an absolute honour for me to accept the award on behalf of my excellent team, but now we need you to think how you can help.

"Lots of people doing a little is better than a few doing a lot!"

Please visit Socks and Chocs to see more about what we do and follow our activities on Twitter @buskingbobby.