A volunteer with the Strand Community Centre, and the whole team behind the Open Daw Centre, have received Civic Awards from Dawlish Town Council.

The presentations were made virtually by the Mayor, Alison Foden, at the Annual Meeting of Dawlish Town Council via Zoom yesterday evening (Wednesday, May 5), with the winners receiving their certificates afterwards.

The individual award went to Marie Whitehead for her 'outstanding service to the community as a volunteer for the Strand Community Centre'.

The organisational award was given to Anthony Butler, former co-ordinator of the Open Daw charity, again for 'outstanding service to the community'. The charity was wound up last month because of the drop in income during the Covid pandemic.

Cllr Foden thanked everyone who had made nominations for the awards.

She said: "All the nominees were of an excellent standard and a real tribute to the community spirit that exists in Dawlish."

Anthony Butler spoke afterwards to express his gratitude to everyone who had supported Open Daw over the years.

He said: "I would like to thank everybody involved in Open Daw. It was our 15th anniversary last year, and we acknowledged the support and dedication of our of volunteers and supporters, together with the support of the community, the town council, businesses and local shops in Dawlish - they have supported us in so many ways for years, and for our customers and clients.

"I would like to make a special thanks to colleague and fellow coordinator Olivia (Gore) for her dedication, skills and support, which were a key factor in enabling Open Daw to provide a high quality service in this difficult year. Also to the chair, secretary, treasurer and trustees of of Open Daw for their dedication, support and guidance in this difficult time, and to Harry for all his work in the background, all his support and everything he has done for Open Daw."

Last week it was announced that the former Open Daw café is to reopen, as Dawlish Methodist Church takes over its running; read more about that here.