An aspiring pop star who rocked the same stage as chart-topper Pixie Lott is in line for a top care award.
Care Practitioner Olivia Thomas – also one fifth of girl-band Indigo City – has been shortlisted for the Exceptional Newcomer Award, sponsored by Coleg Cambria, at the Wales Care Awards.
She will be attending the glittering ‘Oscar style’ ceremony organised by Care Forum Wales on Friday, October 18, at City Hall in Cardiff.
The caring starlet, who works for Hillbury Care Home run by the Pendine Park care organisation is well acquainted with glitz and glamour.
Olivia shared a stage with pop princess Pixie Lott, singer and super-producer Labrinth, who is signed to Simon Cowell’s record label Syco Music, and rap star Tinchy Stryder at Chester Rocks last year.
She said: “That day was a blur. I felt famous. We were in the backstage area with all of the celebrities, and you felt like you were one of them.
“Pixie Lott was really nice. I felt nervous performing to all of those people but then as soon as I walked on stage I was fine.
“The crowd reaction was really good. It went really quick. I loved it.”
Every Saturday morning Olivia teaches performing arts to children between 6 and 18 years old at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, Wrexham, as part of the Theatretrain franchise.
Olivia who moved to Rossett from Finchley, North London, with her family when she was 12-years-old, started working at Pendine Park after she graduated from Liverpool Hope University with a degree in performing arts in 2011.
She said: “I’m happy to just be nominated anyway because it shows people appreciate you.
“I just try and give the residents love, and give them my time, so they feel appreciated. I do things like painting their nails, take them on walks, and give them hugs. Not just things like giving them tea.
“It’s really hard work, but it fun, and it is rewarding. You make a lot of friends here. I really like my colleagues. There’s a really good bunch here.
“I love listening to the residents’ stories. They tell me about the war. It’s really interesting. I love it when I go into their room and they show me their pictures of when they were young, and in their wedding dresses.”
Hillbury Manager Cindy Clutton, who nominated Olivia for the award, said: “Olivia is committed to deliver the best quality care she can to a high standard. She treats everybody with respect and dignity.”
“From the beginning you could see that she has qualities in a young person you don’t see very often.
“Olivia is now an excellent role model for new starters in the home.”
Mario Kreft MBE, the Chair of Care Forum Wales, said the Wales Care Awards had gone from strength to strength.
He said: “The event is now firmly established as one of the highlights in the Welsh social care calendar.
“The aim is to recognise the unstinting and often remarkable dedication of our unsung heroes and heroines across Wales.
“The care sector is full of wonderful people because it’s not just a job it’s a vocation – these are the people who really do have the X Factor.
“If you don’t recognise the people who do the caring you will never provide the standards that people need and never recognise the value of the people who need the care in society.
“We need to do all we can to raise the profile of the care sector workforce – they deserve to be lauded and applauded.
“It is a pleasure to honour the contribution of all the finalists. Each and every one of them should be very proud of their achievement.”
