Residents, businesses and organisations in Shrewsbury who have gone the extra mile for their town have been honoured at a special awards ceremony.
The Mayor of Shrewsbury presented a variety of awards to unsung heroes of the town at the event held last week.
About 80 guests packed into Shrewsbury Guildhall and some 40 nominees, in categories ranging from business to youth and environment, received their awards from Mayor, Councillor Kath Owen.
Councillor Owen, whose term as Mayor ends on Monday, said she was delighted to see so many citizens of Shrewsbury being honoured.
“This is a fantastic night and I thank you all for your hard work,” she said.
“I am delighted to be able to represent these awards, this is the highlight of my time as Mayor of Shrewsbury.”
The night saw Shrewsbury &,, Oswestry Crucial Crew, The Hive media centre and RAF Shawbury walk away with awards in the youth category.
Rosemary Thornes, chairman of the Shrewsbury Town Centre Residents Association between 2005-10 was honoured for her work in the community, with Stan Sedman receiving a gold award for services to the environment.
A number of special commendation awards were presented to eight individuals that the Mayor has observed during her year in office and who she would personally like show her personal gratitude.
They were, Keith Willocks for his services as Santa during last year’s Santayerwhatyerwhat Drop ayeayein the Quarry, Sally Ralph for her 14 years teaching line dance, Hira &,, Veena Midda for more than 40 years trading at Shrewsbury Market Hall, Richard Raven for his work with Age Concern, Eryl Williams for her work with Lingen Davies, Jeremy Johnson for his work with Severn Hospice and Judy Townsend for her tireless efforts as Mayoress to last year’s Mayor, and for her continued efforts to raise funds for charity.
Helen Ball, Town Clerk said: ”The Mayor’s Awards give us a chance to honour those unsung heroes who go about our town and make what Shrewsbury is today, somewhere where we love to live, work, play and visit. It’s not about who has done the best, it is about who has done their best for our town. Our Mayor and Deputy Mayor have witnessed first hand the work of these individuals, organisations and community groups and both are extremely supportive of their nominations this year.
“We would also like to take this opportunity to express our deepest sympathies to the family of Eileen Sandford. Mrs Sandford was a great supporter of the Mayoralty, being a past Mayor herself in 2003, and she was enormously supportive of our Mayoral Awards, many of those receiving awards last night were nominated by her so she leaves a lasting legacy. We would like to convey our deepest sympathies to her family.”
Nominations for the 2012 awards will be available in the summer.
For more information log on to www.shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk