AFTER a year of attending events, opening stores and being guest of honour, departing mayor of Basingstoke and Deane Councillor Paul Frankum gave thanks to the community.

At the mayor making ceremony on Thursday, 17 May, Cllr Frankum spoke of his amazement of the “incredible community” Basingstoke has and all the wonderful people he has met during this tenure as Mayor.

As is tradition for the exiting mayor, Cllr Frankum presented awards to those who gave an outstanding contribution to the community.

However, this year Cllr Frankum introduced a new aware recognising the contribution of youth in the community.

The first ever recipient of this award was Zander West, who was instrumental in helping believer Basingstoke’s first ever pride event and being a voice for equality in the borough

In receiving the award, he said: “I would like to that you (Cllr Frankum) for recognising youth in Basingstoke and the contribution you make.”

Other community awards were presented to Julie Sheppard Tesco champion, Paula Vallance from the Basingstoke Food Bank and Steve Edney for his work with the Basingstoke Gang Show and undertaking 12 events in 12 months to raise money for the Brittle Bone Society.

Cllr Frankum said: “After encountering someone like Steve he just has such a positive attitude which just lifts you up and seeing all the work he did it really make me want to be a better person.”

There was also an award presented to Basingstoke Voluntary Action (BVA) which acted as Cllr Frankum’s community chest. During this time it had given out 33 grants amounting to £25,366. This added to the amount raised during the time Cllr Jane Frankum chose the BVA as her community chest.

In total during the two years the BVA had 65 applications, with a total funding of £36,637.

Kevin Laing from the BVA said: “We have had a tough year but we have lots of plans for next year and we just want to thank the continued support we receive from the community of Basingstoke.”