Newbury Town Civic Awards 2022 - the winners are announced
Newbury’s community heroes were honoured as the town’s Civic Awards presentation took place recently.
Now in its 25th year, the annual Newbury Town Civic Awards were presented to the worthy winners at a special ceremony in the town hall last Wednesday (March 16).
The awards recognise the town’s unsung heroes, “who go above and beyond to help make an exceptional contribution to the Newbury community on a voluntary basis”.
The mayor of Newbury, Billy Drummond, said: “We received so many fantastic nominations for this year’s awards.
“All nominees showed dedication and commitment to their voluntary causes, and the variety of nominations show what a wonderful town we live in where people are willing to give their time and energy helping the community.”
The main award of the evening went to Sukey Russell-Hayward, who was named as the winner of The Newbury Town Civic Award 2022.
She has supported the West Fields community by setting up the Community Matters Facebook page – providing a link between households in the area.
Sukey also organises and runs CommuniTea events in her garden, where the community are invited to go for tea, cake and a chat while raising funds for charity.
She is also the driver for the Secret Garden project, which aims to transform the area by Newbury Lock from waste ground to an accessible resource for the community.
Her nomination said that “Sukey’s enthusiasm and ‘can do’ attitude to help others, while holding down a full-time job, has such a positive impact on the community where so many local residents in Newbury and the surrounding areas benefit”.
The winner of the Newbury Town Business Civic Award was The Globe Pub.
Colin and Katie Martin - and Dave the dog - were clear from day one of opening The Globe that they wanted to help the local community.
They have supported many local organisations and charities by offering them use of their space for events free of charge.
They also support a range of small, local food providers, giving them use of their kitchen, and serving a variety of foods on different nights.
“Their honest approach to work, transparency to the public and their caring nature toward their staff’s wellbeing” were also recognised by nominators.
The nomination added: “Their inclusivity always encourages communities to come together, and are always welcoming new residents of the town (and four legged friends), bringing a great spirit to the town.”
This year’s Newbury Town Young Persons Civic Award was won by 13-year-old Soorya Anbumurasoli, who has been selected for the Berkshire County U13s cricket pathway.
He played with the Indian adult community cricket team at the One Community Cricket and Family Fun Day in September and also volunteers to help Falkland Cricket Club with coaching junior teams.
Soorya also supports the Tamil community with cultural events and helps at the Newbury Tamil School, encouraging people to embrace the traditional Tamil language.
The winner of the Newbury Town Environmental Contribution Award was Tony Hammond. Tony has "quietly led the initiative ‘Growing Newbury Green’ for the last decade, helping provide all Newbury residents with access to fresh local, healthy free food grown organically".
He supports regular community orchard pruning events and has also led Wassails both online and in person to involve more local residents with the orchard.
Mr Drummond congratulated all of the nominees for their outstanding achievements in a personal letter.
They were all invited to the town hall for the presentation ceremony and were given a certificate of recognition.
