Hello, my name is

Ben Thornbury

Student - 19 Years Old

About me

I am an enthusiastic T-level student who studies Digital Support Services at Cirencester College and has a passion for ICT and helping others.

I am always open to new projects to get involved with; please do not hesitate to get in contact with me.

Over the years, I have been actively involved with the local community of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, running a community group and participating in many different activities. All of this has taught me very important life skills, which I will take forward into the realm of work.

I have been featured in many different local and national newspapers. I was even given the opportunity to go live on BBC Breakfast in 2023, this was to talk about Helping Clean Malmesbury.

Back in 2020, i also took on the major task of trying to plant 225 trees. I had to find the land for these trees to be planted on. Some of these were donated to Wottoon Bassett Rugby Club and others were planted in the Reeds Farm estate. The Metro newspaper even wrote a story on it.

What I do

Since a young age, I have been involved in a lot of volunteer projects and gained a lot of experience along the way.

helping The community of malmesbury

Alongside my neighbor Julie, we started the clean-up campaign in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. The aim was to clean up the streets and keep it looking tidy.

The Facebook group is now at 600+ members and continues to spread awareness of the issue of litter in the town.

This taught me a lot, as I used to be the person applying for grants for the group to buy equipment.

Missing People - lost but loved

I founded 'Missing People - Lost but Loved'. The aim was to reunite missing people with loved ones.

Since the Facebook group was formed, it has reached 4.6K members and continues to grow.

The website was built by myself, and my hope is to continue to reunite missing people with family and friends.

Work experience

For my work experience, I did it at Renew Malmesbury, which is a sustainable shop for the local community. I worked on social media and shop systems.

I also volunteer at the Missing People charity as an SEO volunteer for them. This has provided me with great knowledge of how Search Engine Optimization works for such a big website.

I have been involved in the Athelstan 1100 project, specifically managing its social media presence.

Additionally, I'm dedicating time to volunteering for the Big Syn Festival in London, where I assist with research and promotion efforts.

My Experience:

2018-Present

Self Employed

2019-2020

Red Bull Pub

2021-2021

Dysons

2022-Present

Co-Op

Awards:

Over the years, I have received many awards:

– Environment Blue Peter Badge (2020)

I sent a letter in the post, and I received the badge back from them for all my environmental work. Read more here

– Pride of Light Award (2020)

This was awarded to me after I created a COVID-19 support website, to assist those who could not get out the house during the pandemic. You can read more here.

– High Sheriff Award – 2021 (for my work during the Covid-19 pandemic)

I was awarded this by Ashley Truluck for my work during Covid on my support website.

– Malmesbury Town Council (Junior and Young)

I won Junior citizen of the year award and Young. The town council were always very supportive of my work. Read more here

– High Sheriff Award (2023)

I was awarded an award by Lady Lansdowne. You can read more here

– Good neighbour awarded by BBC Wiltshire (2023)

In 2023, I was awarded by BBC Wiltshire for all my work over the years. I was nominated by a local resident, and I won! Through this, I was given the opportunity to speak with James Blunt, and I was featured in a Christmas Special Radio Documentary with him. Read more here

– Royal Global Awards (2024)

On Saturday, November 23, 2024, I had the honor of being invited to the prestigious Cavendish Banqueting Hall in London (NW9 5AE) for the Royal Global Awards, where I proudly won the Entrepreneur 18–24 category.