Charity Champion or Volunteer of the Year nominee – Dean Chapman

Charity Champion or Volunteer of the Year nominee – Dean Chapman

When people see Dean Chapman cleaning road signs or play areas around his home city of Stoke-on-Trent they assume he works for the city council – but he is actually a volunteer.

The 49-year-old, who has his own window cleaning company, spends hours of his free time cleaning in public areas around the city. He also cleans the windows at The Macari Centre homeless charity and Bethel Church for free and helps Bethel Church with their community meals for people with learning difficulties.

He often finds himself running errands for elderly people on his window cleaning round.

Dean recently cleaned a children’s play area in Blurton for free and will often go on litter picks on Sunday mornings.

He started his free civic cleaning around 18 months ago, slotting it in whenever he has time to spare between his paid work.

Dean, from Lightwood, said: “I must have cleaned about 150 road signs around Stoke-on-Trent so far. I’m just really proud of Stoke-on-Trent and want it to look the best it can for visitors and people who live here.

“I get really good feedback. When people see what I’m doing they assume I’m being paid by the city council but I’m doing it off my own back.

“I’m taking pride in my area and helping other people. I enjoy it really. We’ve already got a lot of volunteers in Stoke-on-Trent but just think how much of a difference we could make if more people did this.”

Dean has two grown-up children and will sometimes take his three-year-old granddaughter out with him on his cleaning missions.

He has been nominated in the Charity Champion or Volunteer of the Year category of the Your Heroes Awards by Councillor Lilian Dodd, former Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent.

Dean added: “I was really pleased but also surprised when I found out that Councillor Dodd had put me forward for the Your Heroes Awards. It’s really nice of her but it’s also a bit of a shock.

“Being recognised in this way is massive for me. It makes you realise that you must be doing something right.”

Alongside his cleaning Dean records YouTube videos encouraging people to visit Stoke-on-Trent and find out more about its history.