Posthumous civic award for former JNF UK chief and CST volunteer

A CST volunteer and former longstanding head of JNF-UK was posthumously awarded a civic award in Borehamwood last night for his contributions to the community.

Simon Winters was given The Dave Rankin Civic Award, which celebrates outstanding contribution for community safety,  by Hertsmere Mayor, Cllr John Graham, at a ceremony in Hertfordshire.

Winters died in October 2022 at the age of 63, from brain cancer. A flying and motor racing enthusiast who was awarded an OBE in 2009 for his charitable work, he volunteered as a Sergeant with Hertfordshire Police from 2018, continuing even while suffering from the terminal disease.

Accepting the tribute, awarded posthumously for the first time in twenty years, was his wife Susie Winters, who described her husband as “totally dedicated and passionate about his work. I think he liked being in the ‘specials’ because they were all young and they hadn’t heard his ‘dad’ jokes. He never went out to get awards, but to be honoured with an award is tremendous and a great comfort to the family to know that he was appreciated,”

In a video presentation to the audience, Morris Bright, CBE, who co-nominated Winters alongside Hertsmere Cllr Jeremy Newmark, remarked: “A person will only be forgotten when their name is spoken for the last time and I think that by Simon Winters posthumously winning the Dave Rankin award, we know that Simon Winter’s name will never be forgotten.”

Newmark described Winters as a ‘natural candidate” for the award, citing his “dedication to public safety, his work as a special constable, receiving the Outstanding Service Award not only once, but twice so that they named the award after him” and hailing the “work that he undertook for the CST to secure the Jewish community in this borough, raising over £12 million for a variety of charities and good causes.”

Winters also worked with the British Friends of the Jaffa Institute and was instrumental in setting up Petra’s Place, a nursery and early intervention centre for children with autism, which was founded by Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone’s daughter Petra Ecclestone