Beckenham's Night of Honour has been going since 2007 and in that time we've established a strong process to what we do but in 2011 we decided to break one of the rules.

One of our award categories is, and has always been, Beckenham's Child of the Year.
It's especially for a child that is overcoming or has overcome adversity with a smile and a resolve to succeed, embracing today and the future with renewed hope. Amongst the nominations we received that year was one for a young child that had contracted meningitis as a baby but had learnt to overcome the resulting disabilities.

However what really struck our judging panel was not so much the bravery of the little girl, to be honest she was so young she didn't know life to be any different, but the attitude of her parents. The little girl's bravery was a direct result of her parents determination to bring good out of their circumstances. Their journey wasn't an easy one, and yet they put their focus and energy into raising awareness and funds for the Meningitis Trust in order to help other's that would walk a similar journey.

At a time when they could have looked inwards and reflected on their own situation they looked up and saw ways in which they could help others.
That's why in 2011 we broke the rules and changed the award for that year from Beckenham's Child of the Year to Beckenham's Family of the Year!