Hero of heroes winner Elaine Mair describes what winning the award means to her.
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00:00 You won the Heroes of the Heroes, how do you feel about that?
00:02 I just feel gobsmacked and elated and delighted and very, very honoured and very humbled because
00:08 there was obviously so much well-deserving people through the year of this award as well.
00:15 So obviously I'm just totally delighted and over the moon and just gobsmacked, as I said,
00:22 a bit speechless.
00:23 It was the Emergency Services Board, you won the Ireland and New Zealand Award.
00:26 It was the Emergencies.
00:27 What's the work you do?
00:30 I've always volunteered for different things, starting with the Red Cross and the HM Coast
00:37 Guard and most recently I've been eight years volunteering on the Buckeye lifeboat.
00:43 In four years I've been in the ambulance service in Buckeye, so that's hence I've got the two,
00:52 I've got my job and a voluntary position as well.
00:55 Both working with obviously amazing crews, so it keeps me really busy, along with my
01:01 grandkids as well.
01:03 Have you all got a family support unit here today?
01:06 I've got my three children here as well and my work daughter's here as well and both are
01:12 partners.
01:13 My grandkids are too young, they're out here in their beds.
01:16 And it's eight grandchildren?
01:17 I've got eight grandchildren.
01:18 So how do you remember them?
01:20 They'll be well, they'll just be over the moon, I'll hate to hide these because they'll
01:24 be running, they'll want to run about with them.
01:27 To win the BAFE Awards is a great recognition for you?
01:29 It's amazing, I genuinely can't believe it.
01:32 I'm very humbled as I said before because there's so many deserving folk there and the
01:38 work that I do and the voluntary work that I do is just something that I enjoy doing
01:43 because it's just something that I've always wanted to do, help folk.
01:50 I feel like it's something that I want to be recognised for, I just want to do it because
01:57 it's helping my community, the voluntary work and the lifeboat, it's just putting back to
02:03 the community and helping them in times of need.
02:06 And the ambulance as well, it's like being with people at their worst times sometimes
02:12 and you're there to help them as best as you can and you can only do what you can do.
02:17 And if you can muck one person's life better in a day, well it's a great thing.
02:25 In the event of a vote, she could see all the award winners.
02:28 That's amazing, there's so many amazing award winners there and to actually be chosen as
02:35 the Hero of Heroes is just beyond belief.
02:38 And there's a lot of deserving cases through there, and I say cases but you get what I mean,
02:44 deserving people, and they've all put so much work into the community as well with their
02:50 fundraising and Life at Derdea and for different things, the school and all the people.
02:57 It's just amazing.
02:59 To come out with us is just, I'm just gobsmacked.