Active Burnley Award winners Stuart Nicolson and Oliwia Kaczmarek are commended at Active Lancashire Awards

Lifetime Achievement winner at the Burnley awards in July, local football referee Stuart Nicolson, was given a special recognition award in the Jimmy Armfield Lifetime Achievement category, while teenage kickboxer Oliwia Kaczmarek was highly commended in the Young Achiever of the Year award.

All the Active Burnley Award winners go forward to the Active Lancashire Awards, to have their achievements judged against those chosen from similar recognition awards throughout the county.

The Jimmy Armfield Lifetime Achievement Award is for the person who has shown a consistent lifetime commitment of 20 years or more and has made a major contribution to community sport and active lifestyles within Lancashire. It was won by Sami Smithson, Chairperson of Accrington Stanley Women’s Football Club and former Head of Inclusion, Wellbeing and Safeguarding at British Judo.

Stuart’s special recognition acknowledges his 60 years involvement in football at all levels.

Over the decades, he progressed his career until officiating at Football League Youth Lions Under-21s matches from 1985 until recently. His claim to fame includes refereeing a Lancashire Youth League game - Manchester United vs Bury - when he made it into the tabloid press for cautioning Sir Alex Ferguson for dissent!

Stuart has refereed in the Lancashire Amateur League for over 40 years, and in 2018 was appointed LAL president. He has also been president of the Burnley Referees’ Association, manager of Brunlea Juniors and the fourth official at Burnley FC’s Turf Moor ground many times and is well known for being an avid Burnley FC fan.

Oliwia, meanwhile, has been at the Dragons Kickboxing Club for the last eight years. She trains four times a week and competes at the sport’s highest level with more than 100 fights to her name.

She is the current British WKO -55kg full contact kickboxing champion as well as WKA, ISKA, AFSO, and WFMC champion in her weight division. During an unbeaten 2022, Oliwia won English, British, European, and World open tournaments and is working towards her black belt.

The Active Burnley Awards are organised annually by borough-wide leisure and wellbeing facilitator Burnley Leisure and Culture to pay tribute to those who show dedication at a range of sporting, health, and wellbeing activities at all levels, and those who work tirelessly to support individuals or community clubs, for the love of the sport or their community.

This year’s event at the Burnley Mechanics Theatre was hosted by Burnley-born former Lionesses’ goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis, who also got proceedings underway with a Q&A at the Lancashire Awards at Ewood Park, Blackburn.