Merton Council’s leisure and culture manager, Christine Parsloe, has won the national Guardian’s Public Servant of the Year award.

Christine Parsloe is named Public Servant of the Year

In the same year that Merton has been named Best Achieving Council at the MJ Awards, Christine Parsloe was awarded the top public servant accolade in the country last night. Winning this prestigious award recognises the hard work Christine has done as leisure and culture manager over many years including her key role in bringing the London Olympic and Paralympic Games to Merton in 2012 with no specific funding for the task.

Thanks to the legacy of Christine’s work, a BMX track has opened in Mitcham, Wimbledon Park now boasts two beach volleyball courts and 116,000 children have tried out activities at its watersports centre. As well as helping 147,000 people line the streets of Merton as the Olympic torch relay passed through, Christine also arranged for the Queen to visit Mitcham during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Leader of Merton Council, Councillor Stephen Alambritis said: “Christine truly deserves this award as she is a real public service champion and a fantastic ambassador for Merton Council and the local community. Thanks very much to everyone who voted and did their bit to make sure that Christine’s hard work is recognised.”

Chair of London Councils Mayor Jules Pipe said: “We would like to congratulate Christine Parsloe on winning Society Guardian Public Servant of the Year Award.

“Christine’s innovative work to create a cultural and sporting Olympic legacy in Merton is incredibly inspirational and has really captured the feel-good factor of the Games to make a positive difference to the lives of residents long after the Olympic closing ceremony.

“Christine’s work is an excellent example of how, despite significant budget cuts, London’s boroughs continue to deliver improvements in services to make London the world class city it is.”

You can find out more about why Christine won the Public Servant of the Year Award by visiting The Guardian’s website.