18th March 2024
The Town Council hosted its Annual Civic Awards on Friday 15th March, 2024, in an evening of celebration at Ormiston Rivers Academy.
The Town Mayor opened proceedings shortly after 7pm with a hearty welcome before members of Carlie Boler’s Street & Contemporary Dance classes took to the stage to entertain the audience, before the first of 10 awards were given out.
In her entertaining Scottish style, Cllr Fiona Clegg, Deputy Mayor, announced the reasons behind each award while Office Clerk Kassie Taylor did a great job assisting before Cllr Clegg handed over to Town Mayor Duncan Rawlinson who announced the winners and invited them on stage.
The first 4 awards
Pictures for all the awards can be seen in the gallery below.
- The Burnham Says Thank You Award was presented by the Mayor to the Station Adopters, a volunteer team led by Cllr Una Siddall-Norman, who look after the flower beds at the station and keep it all tidy and presentable. The Station Adopter team includes: Clare Albon, Suzanne Brewer, Alice Bush, Debbie Coppin, Jeff Edwards, Rosemary Hopkins, Julie Hyam, Barbara King, Frances Lymer, Jean Marshall and councillors Mary-Ann Munford and Jane English.
2. The Environment Award went to Justine Page, a local girl and former teacher at St Mary’s Primary School, who has received numerous awards for her work endorsed by Jacqueline Gold has received an award from Dragon’s Den entrepreneur, Theo Paphitis, and won Best Children’s Business with her enterprise, Green Earth Learning. Justine recently set up Green Prescribed, a local walking exercise group.
3. The Young Person’s Award went to 10-year-old Darcey Strutt, who has been helping people out since she was 4. Annually Darcey collects between 400 and 500 Christmas presents to give out to other children and raises money for a range of charities.
4. The Good Egg Award for generosity, philanthropy and general good-eggedness, went to Nick & Andy Sadler of The Limes Farmshop. The Sadlers regularly donate the town Christmas Tree and its lighting, among other good works, asking in return that the council makes a donation to charity – recently this has been given to Farleigh Hospice.
Entertainment & dinner break
The audience was then treated to a superb display of talent by singers, musicians and dancers from the Ormiston Rivers Academy student body, see pictures below, followed by a light supper of sandwiches, fruit and puddings.
The second 4 awards
After the break, four more awards were announced:
5. The Pride of Burnham Award was presented by the Mayor to Stephen Hull for all the work he does organising the weekly park runs in Riverside Park.
6. The Service to the Community Award was given to Dan Rodwell and his team at the fundraising committee of the RNLI, raising money for the local lifeboats. Members of the committee who were able to attend included Dan’s mum, Susan Rodwell, Anita Baynham, Anne Hendry and Christine Reynolds.
7. The Service to Burnham Sports Award was given to Paul Howard for his 27 years of extraordinary work at Burnham Ramblers. His work with younger players especially has been inspirational.
8. Burnham’s Inspiration Award was given to Dawn Smith, Sophie Hibbon, and Kay Tavinor who, in the summer of 2023, rowed across the Pacific Ocean in just 40 days, setting a new World Record. The 2,800 mile route was from Monteray in California to the island of Kaui, Hawaii.
More music, maestros
There then followed another musical interlude, this time with local singers Cllr Jane English and Helen Watson. Helen has appeared on top of the Pops and has sung with Joe Cocker , Emmy-Lou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, and currently tours with Daphne’s Flight and Snake Davis. Jane spent 14 years singing Texan Blues around the UK and was lead singer in the Rockin’ Armadillos with Tim Aves – which were twice the featured artist on BBC Radio 2s Blues Show.
The final two awards
9. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Margaret Smith and Peter Burton, for their brilliant voluntary work at the Burnham Museum.
10. The Mayor’s Award, previously known as the Citizen’s Award, went to Bob Melton, Janice Jones, Janice Smith and Sarah Lane-Cawte for their sterling charitable work via the United Reformed Church.
GALLERY
The following pictures were taken by Cllr Nick Skeens. Click on this email address, cllrnickskeens@burnhamoncrouchtowncouncil.gov.uk if you want to ask him for permission to use them.
The Pride of Burnham Award was presented to Stephen Hull for organising the Park Run
