STOKE TRADESMAN SECURES NATIONAL AWARD

A Stoke-on-Trent landscape gardener has become our final Extra Mile Award winner for his contributions to the local community.

Burslem’s Nathan Brammer has been named one of the three UK winners of our campaign to recognise kind-hearted tradespeople who have gone above and beyond to give back to their local community or charities.

Nathan, aged 33 and the owner of Tru-Pro Landscaping, stepped up to transform the garden of a Sandbach family whose nine-year-old son, Lincoln Stafford, was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Rebecca Stafford, Lincoln’s mother who nominated Nathan for the award, said: “It was an unbelievable gesture which has really transformed our lives.

“I was on the radio a while back talking about Lincoln and, within 30 minutes, Nathan had been in touch with an offer to help. He and his team gave up a huge amount of time to not only carry out the work but also sourcing product from suppliers to give us a garden we could only have dreamt of.

“The team installed artificial turf and carried out ground-levelling work because Lincoln can only really walk on flat surfaces now.

“Lincoln struggles with all aspects of daily life, from getting dressed in the morning to climbing the stairs or lifting himself off the floor or a chair.

“Life can be very challenging watching your child struggle against a disease like that but the kindness of Nathan and his team gives you hope.

“Every time I go outside or look out of the kitchen, I remember the love that went into creating the garden and it makes it incredibly special. There is no more deserving winner of the award than Nathan.”

Nathan receives £1,000 worth of credit to spend at our branches or online as his Extra Mile Award prize.

He said: “It’s a real honour to win the award and I’m very grateful to Rebecca for the nomination.

“When I heard her story on the radio, we knew straightaway we wanted to do what we could to help and we are all thrilled we could make a difference.

“We’ve helped out with a couple of similar jobs since and we are keen to do more in the future and give something back.”

Alison Wong, head of marketing communications and sustainability at Selco Builders Warehouse, said: “We received dozens of very strong entries highlighting the outstanding work tradespeople do over and above their day job and it was an extremely difficult task to select winners.

“It was a wonderful gesture of Nathan to offer his help to Rebecca, Lincoln and the rest of the family and it was exactly the type of kind-hearted act we were looking for when we launched the Extra Mile Awards.”