PEOPLE who have made big contributions to life in Burnham-On-Sea were recognised at the annual Civic Awards ceremony.

The event, organised by mayor of Burnham and Highbridge Michael Clarke took place on Sunday, October 2.

The Civic Awards are drawn up from a list of nominees submitted to Burnham and Highbridge Town Council by members of the public.

At 2.50pm the mayoral party left the Princess Theatre and Arts Centre for a short procession to St Andrews Church, where the civic party were greeted by a guard of honour from the cadet services.

During the service at 3pm, the mayor's guest of honour, the Lord High Sheriff of Somerset Edward WG Bayntun-Coward presented the awards.

Awards were presented to:

Pat Farrow - For Pat’s involvement with Sedgemoor Community Partnership at Morland Hall in Highbridge.

Pat has been volunteering at Morland Hall for at least the past eight years.

Chief petty officer David Gordon - David Gordon has been a member of the Sea Cadet unit for 35 years, first as a Cadet, then as a staff member, attaining his present rank of Chief Petty Officer in 1998.

All members of staff are unpaid volunteers and David has selflessly given up two evenings a week and most weekends for all of that time.

Alan and Jan Huddart - Described as the backbone of the volunteers at the Princess Theatre and Arts Centre, Jan coordinates the volunteer team with excellent diplomacy and skill and is a great, great asset to the building, without her ability to draw the team members in and allocate their duties so well, the building could not operate as well as it does.

Alan is happy to jump in at any time when there is extra help needed and is a trusted key holder in emergency situations when staff cannot attend to open the building for any reason.

Margaret Williams - For Margaret’s involvement with Sedgemoor Community Partnership at Morland Hall in Highbridge.

Margaret originally became involved with SCP via the Highbridge DreamScheme which was started in the Morland Hall Annexe in early 2010 by a local Police initiative in partnership with Sedgemoor Community Partnership and she was a founder member on the committee and later became its Chair until the Police withdrew their support.

There was a collection taken for the mayor's chosen charity, In Charley's Memory, and the service finished with the guests returning to The Princess Theatre for afternoon tea.