Champion for Outstanding Bravery Briony-Claire Stirland, sister of Ben Stirland

Jul 13 2008 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

YOUNG Briony-Claire Stirland had very mixed feelings about winning our Champion for Outstanding Act of Bravery award.

If the teenager’s brother Ben was still alive today she would never have been nominated, let alone walk away from the stage brimming with tears as she held the winner’s trophy.

Briony, 17, rushed to Ben’s aid when he swallowed a pen lid but despite desperate efforts by family, neighbours and paramedics, Ben’s brain had been starved of oxygen for too long and he could not be saved.

Sixteen months on and Briony, of Consett, County Durham, is determined to make her brother proud by throwing herself into a whole host of activities, led by fundraising for the Newcastle General Hospital ward where Ben was treated.

She was nominated by her mum Nathalie Hodgson, who told judges how Briony has been an inspiration to her family and made them all very aware how life must go on.

Nathalie said: “I am in complete awe of her bravery, both on the day of Ben’s accident and since.”

The judges agreed, saying they had chosen Briony because of the way she had overcome her personal tragedy.

Briony, however, didn’t think she had done anything extraordinary. She said: “People do brave things all the time and I think I did what anyone else would have done.

“I’ve got mixed feelings about winning. It’s great being here in some ways but in others it’s pretty nasty. If Ben were here now I think he’d be well happy for me and say ‘well done’.

“The last year or so has been really hard but I just try to keep it together for everyone else.”

The worthy runners-up for the award were former coastguard Paul Waugh and nurse Michael Foreman.

Paul, of Skelton, North Yorkshire, carried out a daring clifftop rescue to save a 13-year-old girl’s life.

He didn’t hesitate to help Faye Harrison and three friends who found themselves trapped on a clifftop path as darkness set in, inching his way down without waiting for ropes or a harness.

Bosses at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, however, said Paul had ignored health and safety rules by not using safety equipment and following correct procedures, so after 13 years’ dedicated service he has quit.

Courageous nurse Michael Foreman didn’t think twice when burglar Michael McCall broke into the Birchdale Care Home in Gateshead, claiming he was armed with a knife.

Michael tackled the drug addict, putting him in an arm lock and pinning him to the floor.

McCall has been locked up under “three strikes” legislation for three years . . . and Michael, 44, of Newcastle’s West End, told us he was only at the care home on the night he broke in, in January, to cover for another member of staff!