There was great anticipation at the 42nd Annual Town Meeting held at the Rose Room in the Festival Hall on Wednesday 12th April. The Town Mayor – Cllr James Deane – stood up to address the 52 members of the public who were present, to hear what the Town Council had been involved in during the past year. A brief report was given on the various committees – Public Halls, Grounds, Town Development, Planning, Finance & General Purposes, and the work that they had carried out during the year. Members of the audience were then given the opportunity to ask questions.
Presentations followed from Vaughan Clark and Jeremy Mitchell regarding the future plans for the Petersfield Museum, and Tony Struthers gave an update on the ‘i-tree’ survey that had been carried out on all trees found in the Petersfield area.
The Town Mayor then led the awards, starting with The Daniel Day Lewis Award for best actor/musician under the age of 18. This award has been in existence for the past five years and this year there were 7 worthy nominations. It was our pleasure to present this years award to George Renshaw (picture below) for his performance of The Engineer in Miss Saigon at Churchers College.
Cheques were then handed out to the Mayors chosen charities, Petersfield Dementia Friendly and Petersfield Salvation Army Christmas Present Appeal. This was followed by the awarding of grants to Headway Portsmouth and SE Hampshire, Petersfield Youth Theatre, Hospice Services at Home TLC Ltd and Petersfield Musical Festival.
The final presentations were the Mayors Award for services to Petersfield, and it was our pleasure this year to recognise the work of Tony Struthers (Petersfield Society and Lions Club), Robin Hart (Friends of Petersfield Heath), Iris Holt (On and off stage at Festival Hall), June Brooks (Friends of Petersfield Hospital), and Churchers College (assisting with Civic Events)
In his closing comments, the Mayor made one final surprise presentation to Vaughan Clark for all his hard work in the community as a councillor, and volunteer at the Petersfield Museum. Vaughan also received a gift for his wife Jill, who was unable to attend.
People were then invited to stay for food and drinks, and to meet the Councillors.
Please ‘click here‘ to view the minutes of the meeting.
