Ottery Town Council presented Pat Lane with a special award at last week’s Annual Parish Meeting for her charity work.

Pat is stepping down from her position at Ottery St Mary and District Help Scheme, which was the Mayor’s Charity of the Year for 2010 and the Herald’s CAMPAIGN last year.

At the meeting in the Institute last Tuesday, Mayor Glyn Dobson felt that her outstanding service to the Parish should be recognised, as the service the charity provides was described as ‘a lifeline for the elderly’.

The residents present were then asked to vote for this year’s Mayor’s Charity from a shortlist of three. The winning charity was Dance Action for Youth, scoring many more votes than Ottery Later Life Forum and the Ottery St Mary Hospital League of Friends. Dance Action allows children of all age and disability to get involved in dancing and compete in competitions across the country, and was widely praised for its inclusive nature in nominations.

As reported in last week’s Herald, Ron Berry was voted as ‘Ottery Citizen of the Year’ for his work at the Institute, one of seven nominations by the public for the award. The others were David Stevens from Boots Chemist, Wendy Cammock who organises the Christmas Lunch in the town, Alita Pace for her work at Tipton Stores, Barry Fearn for his fundraising and help at community events, Ben Scott the organiser of Young Concert, and Derek Baxter for his voluntary help at the TIC.