EDUCATING Greater Manchester star Drew Povey was blown away by the courage, kindness and dedication shown by the Inspiration Awards winners and nominees.

The former Harrop Fold School head teacher, who started his career in education at Beamont Collegiate Academy, was a special guest at the awards ceremony – delivering an inspirational speech to the room.

Mr Povey, an ex-Bridgewater High School pupil who has also worked in leadership development at Warrington Wolves for nearly two decades, said: "When you look at the people in this room who have done so many incredible things, it’s a humbling place to be.

"It’s inspirational just sitting and hearing about the ground that people have covered, the changes that people have made and the differences and the impact they’ve had on other people’s lives – it’s incredible.

"We forget too often that people do brilliant things, and we forget too often that there are so many positives happening all the time – it needs to be captured.

"It was a privilege for me to be invited, and there were many moments in there where I was thinking it was one of the greatest privileges of my career to be able to speak at an event like this surrounded by the quality of people that we had in there.

"These people aren’t doing it for money, or the limelight or recognition – they are grafting away and pulling up trees, and nobody knows about it.

"Tonight is the night where we know about it."