A FAMILIAR Popley face was given a special honour at the occasion, winning a unique Most Nominated award.

Carnegie Lewis has been nominated almost every time over the 15-year course of the Place to be Proud of awards, but was yet to win anything.

That was, of course, until this year, when he was presented with a special award for the amount of nominations that he had received over the years.

Nina Muir, from award sponsor Destination Basingstoke, said: “Carnegie has received incredible numbers of nominations every year and we thought it was high time he was recognised for his popularity with the people of Popley who clearly appreciate the pride he has in his work to keep Popley clean and tidy.”

Carnegie was praised for his work for Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, keeping the area clean and tidy as a part of the street cleaning team. He was given special mention for going above and beyond the call of duty by cleaning up after fly tippers in the area.

A very excited Carnegie leapt up after he was announced, and dashed to the stage to embrace with compere David Holby-Wolinski.

Speaking to the crowd when collecting the award, he said: “I want to thank the people of Popley for this.

“Often litter-pickers don’t get the recognition that they deserve. This award is for all the hard-working grass cutters, bin men and others who work behind the scenes. I think that I deserve this award, along with all of them.”