THE GREAT and good of Ilminster have been celebrated with grants and awards at the town annual assembly.

The mayor of Ilminster, councillor Val Keitch, presented the Citizen's Award to Andy Miller, a retained firefighter with 32 years service.

Andy was nominated for the award by his colleagues.

His nomination said: "Andy has given 32 years of service to the fire service and through his position as a retained firefighter shown exceptional commitment to the town and the surrounding area.

"As station commander, Andy has led his crews by example. He has given up time with family and friends to keep the appliance operational and made many other sacrifices to protect the people of Ilminster without them ever really knowing.

"More often than not Andy is on call every hour of the week. It is a monumental demonstration of dedication and commitment to stay within five minutes travel of Ilminster station.

"This dedication is not only shown by Andy but also a reflection of his family's support."

The Mayor's Award was given to two outstanding individuals for their contribution to life in Ilminster, Jim Sainsbury and Steve Garland.

Jim Sainsbury's nomination said: "Jim is a local man who has been involved with the cricket club for more than 40 years, working hard on a voluntary basis to contribute to the success of the club.

"Jimk is also very involved in the heritage of the Ile and maintains their photographic library. This helps keep alive our local history for future generations.

"Jim contributes much to the life of Ilminster and without such dedicated volunteers our town would be poorer.

Steve Garland's nomination said: "Steve is a local man with a young family, encouraging them in their interests in horses, taking them to shows.

"For some that would be enough, but Steve also finds time to be involved with the Youth set up at Ilminster Football Club coaching both the under 15s and under 13s.

"This season the under 13s have won both their league and cup final.

"Steve's dedication and hard work has contributed to the success of both teams.

"Steve's contribution to the young people of the town is immense."

Grants were also given to Ilminster Swimming Club, Ilminster Air Training Corps, Sunny Ile Pre-School, Harlequin Carnival Club, Gemini Carnival Club, Xtreme Carnival Club, Experience Ilminster (Ilminster Midsummer Experience), Iona Davis, Ilminster Scouts, South Somerset Carnival Park committee, disabled strongman Gary Clark, and Ilminster Carnival committee.

The mayor's charity fund has been generated through fundraising events since May 2016, including a stall at Party on the Park and a quiz night.

Local organisations were invited to apply for grants up to £100, and the mayor was able to give a grant to everyone who applied.

Cheryl Herrick, Sunny Ile pre-school leader, said: "We are grateful for Cllr Keitch for her kind donation towards our fundraising for our new outdoor resources.

"We are providing new resources that will help the children learn lifelong skills such as teamwork, problem solving, resilience and negotiation.

"Our current cohort tracking of our children shows that there are certain areas of the curriculum, which need focus to help the children develop and learn.

"We offer a free flow system and our children spend at lot of time outdoors.

"A growing interest in media equipment, such as television, videos and computer games has also contributed to children lives, giving them fewer opportunities to access outdoor spaces or benefit from being outside.

"Outdoor learning complements indoor learning and is equally important.

"Play and learning that flow seamlessly between indoors and outdoors enable children to make the most of the resources and materials available to them and develop their ideas without unnecessary interruption."

The mayor also took to chance to highlight fantastic groups and events in the town.

She spoke of the success of the Ilminster Experience, Party on the Park, the Ilminster Literary Festival, and the Victorian Evening to name but a few.

Speeches were given by Sgt Jameson of Avon and Somerset police, Michael Fry-Foley of IMEx, community pioneer minister Tracey Hallett, Gill Walker from the Literary Festival, Tony England from Ile Youth community centre.