Extraordinary individuals that make Chelmsford a wonderful place to live have been recognised at this year’s Chelmsford Champions awards.

Chelmsford City Council hosted the evening at Hylands House on June 6.

The Chelmsford Champion Awards have been running annually since 2016 and were developed to recognise and thank those who have shown commitment to making a positive difference to their neighbourhood.

This could be anything from litter picking and planting flowers to doing something creative or leading others to get stuck into improving their area.

The awards were open to anyone who lives in Chelmsford and the surrounding areas.

This year’s event was bigger than ever before with a total of 34 champions honoured.

The awards were presented by the Love Your Chelmsford Team and the Council’s Cabinet Member for Safer Chelmsford, Councillor Jude Deakin.

Councillor Jude Deakin said: “I was very proud to present the Champions their awards, to thank them for the tremendous work they do to help improve their local environment in Chelmsford.

“It is wonderful to see so many of our residents having great pride in their local area. The Chelmsford Champions Awards evening is an opportunity to thank those often-unsung community heroes who go out of their way to improve their local environment - whether this is through litter picking or helping to spread the word about being greener as a community.”

Nick Eveleigh, Chief Executive for Chelmsford City Council, MP for Chelmsford Vicky Ford, and event sponsors One Chelmsford (Chelmsford’s Business Improvement District) were also in attendance to help celebrate the great effort of this year’s nominees.

This year’s Champions were:

Jude Smith – completed lots of litter picks for his Duke of Edinburgh award

Sonny Taylor– completed lots of litter picks for his Duke of Edinburgh award

Graham Clarke – litter picks his local area in Springfield

Helene Mays – regularly attends Love Your Chelmsford events and litter picks her local area

Helene, Lee, Max and Louise Delaunay – regularly attend Love Your Chelmsford events

Claire Fry – regularly attends Love Your Chelmsford events

John Day – regularly attends Love Your Chelmsford events

Chris Davis – regularly attends Love Your Chelmsford events

Karen Corbett – organises group litter picks in the Old Moulsham area

Essex Slalom Squad – regularly attends Love Your Chelmsford events

Woodville Primary School – who joined us at a Love Your Chelmsford Litter Pick event and are carrying out great work within the school promoting the importance for them to be ‘greener’.

Margaretting C of E Primary School – The House Captains at the school are working towards eliminating single use plastics.

Ellie Butcher – litter picks Admirals, West and Central Parks

Lester Rush – litter picks his local area and carries out general maintenance around the village

Louise Alderman – litter picks her local area and attends the Love Your Chelmsford events

Robert Seabrook – litter picks his local area regularly

Artin Cornish – is the warden for Galleywood Common and undertakes litter picking

Alan Bowling – litter picks the Galleywood Common and is a former Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator

Asa and Alan Pamphilon – organises and undertakes community litter picking on a regular basis

The Environmental Group – carries out volunteer work helping to maintain and improve the environment in Galleywood and Great Baddow

Kathy Smith – litter picks her local area on a regular basis

Jack and Sophie Adamson – both litter pick near where they live and keep their neighbourhood looking tidy

Ayman Syed – has recruited 47 coordinators in the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme

Shannon Rayner – regularly and voluntarily litter picks her local area and actively campaigns against the use of plastic

Hugh Dibbens – litter picks his local area and has organised community projects including annual village litter picks and bulb planting days

Roy Cumbers – developed a memorial garden to commemorate local people who lost their lives in the two world wars

Emma Dines – regularly litter picks her local area

David Stock – has cultivated and transformed green spaces in Boreham into well-loved flower beds and tidies up and edges paths from one end of the village to another

Brenda Corney – picks up litter on her journeys and encourages others to get involved in looking after their local environment

If you would like to get involved in litter picking events organised by the Love Your Chelmsford team, visit www.chelmsford.gov.uk/lyc for more information or email lyc@chelmsford.gov.uk.