Our Annual Town Meeting was held on Tuesday 3rd May 2022 in Sedgefield Parish Hall. This meeting was such an important opportunity to converse with the community and also saw the publication of our Annual Report for 2021/22. We thank everyone who attended the meeting to raise a question or just observe. Thanks also to both local County Councillors, Sedgefield Charities and Sedgefield Development Trust for also delivering update presentations as part of this meeting.

Following the meeting, the Mayor of Sedgefield, Councillor Ann Carr, presented her donations to local charities and groups. Check out some of the images below (click to enlarge). A full list of recipients with images can be found on the Mayor’s page – www.sedgefieldtowncouncil.gov.uk/mayor.

     

The final part of meeting was the presentation of the Citizen and Young Citizen of the Year awards for 2021! Organised in a partnership between Sedgefield Town Council, Sedgefield Development Trust and Sedgefield Rotary, the Sedgefield Citizen of the Year and Young Citizen of the Year awards are presented annually to those who have made special contributions to the community. Residents are invited to nominate candidates and a Selection Panel of representatives from the organisations involved, plus the Mayor of Sedgefield and previous year’s winners, assesses and decides who will be presented with the awards.

This year, the Young Citizen of the Year 2021 award was presented to not one but TWO winners – sisters Martha and Maggie Edge.

Martha and Maggie (shown left receiving their award with their mum) are passionate about Sedgefield and about keeping it tidy. These two young sisters, supported by their parents, joined the Sedgefield Ploggers from the very start, and have barely missed a plog since. For those who don’t know, plogging is a combination of jogging (or fast walking) and picking up litter. The group in Sedgefield was set up in 2018 and usually gets together at least once a month to tackle an area in the town.

The pair have been hugely enthusiastic ploggers from day one. In early plogs, Maggie was so young that she had to be carried for stretches by mum or dad. At such a young age, it’s easy for children to lose interest in an activity or discover something more exciting to do but there are no signs of that yet from Martha or Maggie. In fact, if anything, they’ve become more passionate about plogging as time has gone.

Last year, as well as turning out for the regular plogs, they also came up with their own litter picking initiatives. They organised a beach clean-up in Seaton Carew and also held a cake sale there, collecting a big haul of rubbish and raising money for mental health charity Mind.

Martha and Maggie are still very young, but like some other children in Sedgefield, they’ve already proved themselves to be excellent citizens and role models for all of us. Together, we’re delighted to crown them Young Citizens of the Year 2021. Congratulations girls!

Moving on to the Citizen of the Year 2021, we are pleased to announce Bobby Workman as this year’s winner.

Bobby (pictured right receiving his award) was born and bred in Sedgefield; since 1953 he has lived and loved the town, and has been devoted to making it the wonderful and characterful place it is. Over the years, whether posting letters come snow, rain, wind or shine as the local postman, fighting fires as the leading fireman at the local station, or teaching both kids and adults karate at Sedgefield College, his life has been committed to this community.

Now retired, if he’s not hacking holes on the golf course or admiring the shrine he’s dedicated to his 1992 Shrove Tuesday ball game win, he’s jogging through Sedgefield with his dodgy knees, litter pick and refuse bag in hand, keeping the streets clean for all its residents.

And this almost 70-year-old has turned this helpful hobby into a collective movement, inspiring the plogging group to be created and further instilling pride in the area we live.

Not only is he a prominent pillar of the community who truly deserves this award, but he’s a magnificent man that his wife June, his children Chris and Kimberley, and his step children Debbie and Wayne, have always been especially proud of.

Bobby received his award surrounded by family members who sneakily turned up in time for the presentation. But there were suspicions, Bobby admitted following the event, when his daughter Kimberley and others began brainstorming to concoct a plan to get Bobby in attendance!

Congratulations Bobby, your award is much deserved and we all thank you for the work you do for this town.

Bobby, Martha and Maggie (below) were presented with their awards by Mayor of Sedgefield Cllr Ann Carr, alongside Roger Clubley of Sedgefield Development Trust and Mel Broadbelt of Sedgefield Rotary. Bespoke certificates had been prepared and framed by Mel Broadbelt and each winner also received special prizes, courtesy of the Town Council and the Trust. Durham County Councillor Chris Lines donated a shield and prizes for the Young Citizen of the Year presentation.