FIVE very special people have been presented with Good Citizen Awards in recognition of their contribution to the Bicester Community.

In his final act as Mayor for 2018/19, Sean Gaul presented the five with certificates and Good Citizen badges.

Each had been nominated by a resident who felt they should be honoured for their community work.

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The first 2019 Good Citizen was Mechelle Harris, in recognition of her dedicated service as founder of the Hummingbird cancer support centre.

Gill Hawkins was honoured for her voluntary work helping children to read at Kings Meadow School and the Assisted Reading for Children in Oxfordshire (ARCh) office.

PC Vicky Lees was chosen in recognition of her commitment and involvement with the development of the new skate park in Garth Park, while Brian Tegg of Oxfordshire Home Guard history group in Launton was selected in recognition of his service to preserve and promote the Dad's Army defence group.

Finally, Nigel Woods was honoured for his service as an on-call firefighter for 34 years.

Mr Gaul said it was an honour to present the awards to five 'outstanding members of the community'.

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He went on: “They have all gone out of the way to help the community without expecting any recognition and really have made Bicester a better place.

“Communities do not work without people like these five and it’s important the rest of us take a moment to recognise all they have done.”

The evening also saw Bicester’s new mayor Jason Slaymaker sworn in and his first job was to present grant aid cheques.

A host of organisations shared more than £18,000 from Bicester Town Council including Junior Parkrun which got £750, ARCh which received £750 and £500 to set up Bicester Baby Bank.