A school has been shortlisted for an award created in memory of a well-loved Blackburn woman.

Blackburn Central High School have been shortlisted for the Renee Black Integration Award in this year's Community Volunteer Awards.

The award is given to any individual volunteer or team of volunteers whose enthusiasm and dedication has made an outstanding contribution to bringing together the different communities of Blackburn with Darwen and building a shared understanding between different sections of the community.

Headteacher, Mrs Shanaz Hussain, said: "Renee Black was a frequent visitor to our school.

"She was bold, fearless and an inspiration to all of us.

"She was the embodiment of the values that we hold dear at BCHS - respect, understanding and celebrating our similarities - and our diversities.

"All of us in our school family are extremely honoured to have been shortlisted for The Renee Black Award.

"BCHS is truly international and nationalities from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe are represented at our already award-winning, School of Sanctuary.

"We wish all other shortlisted applicants the very best of luck."

The award is in memory of 96-year-old Renee Black, who died in May 2020, a Blackburn pioneer who was founding member of the interfaith forum who won the same award in 2019 before it was renamed.

The school has worked with the InterFaith forum which allowed pupils to ask faith based questions; Al-Imdaad where students provided five wheelchairs for a care home, three water pumps in Sri Lanka and hote meals for 50 people who are on a low wage or homeless; and have supported Blackburn food bank every year in the lead up to the summer holidays.

The school was mentioned in a HM Govt Green Paper for their positive cohesion, and in 2020, attained School of Sanctuary – the only school in Blackburn with Darwen to do so.

The awards are organised by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Blackburn charity, Community CVS.

This year, the council saw a total of 416 nominations - a record number.

The ceremony will take place on Wednesday, November 3rd at King George’s Hall. The awards had to be postponed last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.