Efforts of selfless Staindrop couple recognised

TWO police volunteers have been recognised for their selfless attitude.
Husband and wife Ken and Margaret Ostle have been presented with a customer service award from Durham Police.
Mrs Ostle started as a police volunteer in 2011, helping to promote the Safer Homes initiative in and around Staindrop.
Her husband joined as a volunteer when he retired in 2014 and supported her with her Safer Homes duties.
During the past two years they have begun helping at security bike marking events in Hamsterley Forest at weekends in the summer, as part of the force’s Operation Spoke campaign.
On one recent occasion, they helped security mark more than 100 bikes.
“Our working backgrounds were in the NHS and Royal Mail and when we each retired we wanted to maintain an active lifestyle,” said Mr Ostle.
“Volunteering for the police allows us to be active, meet lots of different people and most of all, give something back to the community – and it’s fun. We have both found that volunteering is a very rewarding process and volunteers are always appreciated and valued by police officers of all ranks, no matter how small their input.”
The couple were nominated by PCSO Katie Bartle, who said: "Margaret and Ken are professional, friendly and care about the delivery of this crime prevention initiative. They truly show how valuable volunteers are to our organisation.”