Gaywood pub The White Horse shortlisted as a national finalist in The Great British Pub Awards

The operator of a Gaywood pub who reached out to his customers during lockdown with live party nights on social media has been shortlisted for a national award recognising his community spirit.

The White Horse has been shortlisted in the Business Continuity category of The Great British Pub Awards – Pub Heroes in the section for Community Mindfulness.

During lockdown Marvin Tillman hosted a weekly live DJ set on Facebook and he partied every Friday evening for two hours.

He saw this as an opportunity to interact with his regulars who he missed seeing. What he didn’t expect was that the weekly events would take off. Viewing figures soon jumped to more than 1,000 views and people were watching him from all over the world.

Marvin said: “It was great to be able to interact and communicate with people but also wonderful to have them be able to interact with each other. The events were so well received that people commented on how much they enjoyed me entertaining them, I can’t believe it was a highlight of some of their weeks!”

Marvin also donated items to the local hospital for the nurses on the critical care ward. The local church was so impressed with his generosity that when he came to donate to the critical care nurses again, they also pulled together and contributed to his donation.

Liberty Worship Centre said of Marvin’s support: “We are so grateful that due to the generosity and in partnership with The White Horse we were able to make a donation of refreshments and personal care supplies to the key workers and hospital staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Lynn this month.”

Marvin is a shining example on how one person can bring so many people together no matter how far they are apart.

Anyone who would like to vote for The White Horse in the awards should visit https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GBPA-Community-Mindfulness