THE great and good of Chard have been honoured at the town’s annual awards evening.

The Chard Town Council annual parish meeting was held last week, with outstanding service awards handed to people who have had a massive impact on the town, and cheques given to support community groups.

Outstanding Service Awards were given to Collette Boyle, Caroline Dawn, Mick Clark and Anna Smith.

Collette has been the secretary of the Chard Helmstedt Twinning Society since 2010, when the group faced closure if a guiding hand could not be found.

Cllr Shortland said: “Colette does all the correspondence, organises the trips, she is the driving force.

“When she took on the role she was a busy community nurse, organising twilight cover for South Somerset, as well as giving time to the Marie Curie charity.

“Harold Spitzer of the Helmstedt group said that Colette is one of those hard-working people who don’t ask many questions, who simple do.”

Caroline Dawn is the chairman of the Chard and Ilminster Friends Group of Children’s Hospice South West.

The mayor said: “In 2008, a meeting took place to find people interested in supporting the work of Children’s Hospice South West.

“Caroline offered to chair the meeting. She is still chairman today.

“The group is soon to celebrate its 10th birthday. This wouldn’t be possible without the work of people like Caroline. Thank you for all the work you have done.”

After accepting the award, Caroline said: “We have raised more than £95,000. That is thanks to local people supporting our events. I am accepting this on behalf of the whole group.”

Mick Clark and Anna Smith both received awards for their actions after the carnival crash in October.


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Mick was marshalling the event and was the first on the scene, providing support to the victim until she was freed by emergency services.

Anna Smith is a volunteer member of the Chard First Responders who ran to scene after hearing of the incident.

Community grants were given to 2nd Chard Girls’ Brigade, Chard Carer’s Support Group, Citizen’s Advice South Somerset, Chard Cricket Club, Chard Tennis Club and CATS (Chard Amateur Theatre Society).