Retained firefighter given town's highest honour as Sandy mayor's awards recognise community heroes

Community heroes were recognised by the mayor of Sandy at an awards ceremony.

Retained firefighter Paul Barrows was awarded Honorary Freeman of the Town of Sandy at the evening to celebrate the Mayor’s Awards for 2022/23.

The award recognised Mr Barrows for his unstinting support and work to help the people of Sandy over decades of service.

Mayor Martin Pettit said: “The mayor and members of the council make this award in sincere appreciation of the distinguished public service rendered by Paul Barrows to the town of Sandy over a period of 38 years.

"His untiring commitment to the role of retained firefighter and wider achievements perfectly typify his ceaseless dedication and spirit and mark him out as a worthy recipient of this award.

"The people of this community hereby admit Mr Paul Barrows to be an Honorary Freeman of the Town of Sandy which is the highest mantle of esteem and honour that the council can bestow”.

Cllr Pettitt also cited Paul’s contributions as a volunteer during the pandemic as mass vaccination centre manager during the Covid-19 pandemic, while continuing his retained duties for Sandy.

He added: “Paul's dedication combined with his leadership qualities in providing unstinting support for community events including Sandy Carnival, band contests, Christmas lights, Remembrance parades and many others have marked Paul out as the most worthy of recipients for this special award and the town council was delighted to have this opportunity of expressing its sincere appreciation in this way.”

Three other major awards made at the annual meeting of Sandy Town Council included:

Citizen’s Award

William Stewart was awarded the Citizens Award, recognising his three tireless years of volunteering at Sandy Secondary School while studying to be a sports teacher at Bedford University. Adding to his original nomination the principal head of Sandy Secondary School, Karen Hayward, stated: “William is an asset to the school and to his local community. I have had the pleasure to see him grow and become the young man he is today. I have no hesitation in endorsing this nomination”.

Community Group Award

Awarded to Sandy Good Neighbours, a group of community volunteers who provide a whole host of “good neighbour” services to members of the community who need and greatly benefit from support in their everyday lives. The award was received on behalf of the Sandy Good Neighbours by chairman and secretary Stephen Ralph.

Young Persons Award

This was awarded to Keown Seldon, fire cadet watch manager with Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and a member of Sandy Fire Cadets. Keown was recognised for showing great commitment to Sandy Fire Cadets from the day he began – “fully deserving” his recent promotion to watch manager. Keown represented Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service as a Lord Lieutenant’s Cadet supporting HM former Lord Lieutenant Helen Nellis at numerous events across the county.

At the memorial service for Officer Chris Page held at Sandy Fire Station in 2022, Keown took on the role of reading the citation in front of Chris's family, fellow cadets, principal senior officers, local dignitaries and others. More recently Keown attended the Town Mayor's Civic Service where he read one of the lessons and has become an ambassador for the Fire Cadets, maintaining at all times a mature and professional attitude.

In recent years Keown has also volunteered at Wood Green Animal Shelter shop as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award. Currently, Keown is considering a longer term connection with the fire service by becoming an on call firefighter in Sandy helping to protect the community in which he lives.

The presentations were held at the Mayor's Annual Town Meeting where Cllr Pettit presented his report touching on a wide range of topics including the setting of the town council's share of the council tax precept, budgeting, upgrading of equipment, community grants, the signing of the Civility and Respect pledge and the ongoing search for land to establish new allotments.

A complete copy of the report can be downloaded from the Sandy Town Council website.

He also made reference to the new skatepark at Sunderland Road Recreation Ground which was completed in 2022 with an opening event attracting a large number of competitors. An anniversary event is planned for September 2023 to build on that success.

It was all hands to the pump in staging Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations held in the grounds of the former Sandye Place School on June 2. A truly phenomenal amount of work and effort went into organising and making this event happen and required support and cooperation from a myriad of organisations and individuals.

Just three months later we would be mourning the Queen’s death and on September 19 watching and witnessing the state funeral. Reading the Royal Proclamation of the succession of our new monarch three days after Her Majesty's passing was, the mayor stated, “a privilege and honour which I will never forget”’.

The Sandy Carnival procession was well supported by the community and also culminated in Sandye Place grounds, with the mayor saying this was a clear pointer to the critical importance residents attach to the area which is strategically located close to the town centre and should serve as a reminder of how crucial it is that this valuable and unique site must so far as possible be preserved and form a part of future Sandy.

In November, the town council took delivery of the new all Electric Etesia Utility Vehicle which replaced one of the two diesel trucks which will soon be, “retired”. The council is currently working with Center Beds Council’s sustainable transport team to install EV charging points in the Market Square in 2023/24.