A GLOBAL relief charity has been named as the best in the country at an annual award ceremony.

Muslim Global Relief, based in Nelson, has been named The UK’s Best Charity of 2018 at the sixth Annual British Muslim Awards which took place in Bradford recently.

The awards celebrate the positive impact of British Muslims in the UK and the charity was shortlisted from more than 500 Humanitarian Relief organisations from across the UK.

The Manchester Road-based charity was awarded the overall winner under the category of “Charity of the Year 2018” for its ‘outstanding work in villages across Africa and for making a positive contribution to the world’.

Mujahaid Bin Jamshaid, head of marketing and communications at the charity, said: “We are delighted to have secured this international recognition of our work and with it the opportunity to share our pioneering approach - one village at a time with the rest of the sector.

“This is a proud moment and it will give us more strength and courage to spread our work and engagement with everything from education to sanitation, from environment to health, from the consequences of the global refugee crisis, to the need of employment in small and forgotten communities.

“It will give us strength to keep working hard and for us to have an even greater positive impact on the communities we serve.”

Muslim Global Relief, which operates in more than 40 countries and has operating for more than two decades, beat off competition to claim the number one spot on the night from a pool of 10 finalists.

The charity is focused on poverty and sickness relief - in particular providing humanitarian relief to those affected by natural disasters, war and conflict.

Its aims are to strive to achieve its vision through providing relief, development, and advocacy work with vulnerable communities across the globe, regardless of race, gender, or belief.

The director of the charity Mohammed Razaque said: “We are absolutely delighted and this is a fantastic recognition of all the hard work and commitment put in, not just by our team, but everyone who does such a great job by supporting us.

“Especially our partner organisations on the ground who are implementing our relief projects.”

“We are pleased and grateful for the support we received from our generous donors and supporters who have voted, resulting in our charity being crowned charity of the year 2018.”