What a fantastic evening last night at the 2023 Hampshire Association of Local Councils “Hampshire & Isle of Wight awards”, hosted by Odiham Parish Council at The Cross Barn.
Odiham Parish councillors welcomed guests from other Hampshire parish councils, joined by Hart District Council councillors, RAF Odiham, representatives from a selection of local voluntary groups – we say “selection” because there are simply so many dedicated voluntary groups in Odiham, we would struggle to find a big enough venue!
The evening started with a Chinook flypast, with a little (well ok, massive) red hand wave to the guests who were ushered back to their seats by the Town Crier.
The first part of the evening was hosted by Odiham Parish Council. Cllr Angela McFarlane presented on the 2022 win and there were short presentations from:
– Martie Stanwell from Odiham Book Exchange
– Ian Green from The Cross Barn
– RAF Odiham Station Commander Matt Roberts
– Arthur McCaffrey from Galleon Marine Boatyard (including Accessible Boating)
– Chris Clark from the Odiham District U3A
After a short break the 2023 awards ceremony started where we heard of some fantastic community projects and best practices from other Hampshire parishes, including Odiham. It was clear from ALL the nominations that it’s the people within each parish who bond people together to make a true community – very uplifting with, often, such negative national news.
So, with some very inspiring nominations, we were absolutely delighted to accept the special award for “best community engagement” recognising the wonderful people in Odiham, North Warnborough and RAF Odiham. In our opinion, this was the best recognition of a strong, vibrant community we could have asked for.
This wasn’t the only win. The Galleon Marine and Accessible Boating won the “best health and wellbeing project” for Odiham’s “very own waterpark” (quoted from Arthur McCaffrey which we think is very apt!).
The 2023 Village of the Year award went to Sherfield on Loddon which will host the 2024 awards.
Thank you to everyone involved 