Cheshamites recognised

Excitement ran high at the Annual Town Meeting when the Mayoral Awards were announced. It certainly proved a crowd puller for friends and families of the nominees and a happy atmosphere prevailed in the council chamber while some of the well-known workers for Chesham were rewarded, as well as some of the less well known. The People’s Award was won by Christine Stanners for her work promoting the health and welfare of older people and her involvement with Chesham Over 50s Positive Action Group (COPAG). The Rafe Chiles Young Persons Award was won by Paige Lacey-Akers for her ongoing commitment to young people’s projects. The Business Award is for community, environmental or educational activities and was won by The Drawingroom cafe and art gallery. Its spirit of community and improvements to Francis Yard were praised.
The winners are a joint decision by the committee. Although they are called the Mayoral Awards, the mayor is only one of the panel of judges. In fact if the person you nominated this year did not succeed, (and I can tell you having been a judge but not being one next time due to no longer being mayor) you can nominate them again next year. Sometimes a very worthy person doesn’t rate so well because the application hasn’t been detailed enough.