Awards Night to Remember

The main hall had been transformed into a venue worthy of any red carpet award ceremony.

An emotional and heart-warming night to remember came together through the efforts of many.

The judges choice of winners were warmly applauded and none more so than Emily Lawes as the overall achiever of the year.

Emily had already been named best sports personality but was selected as the top achiever among many worthy people.

The judges felt Emily fitted the criteria as not only had she overcome being born with only one hand to compete in her chosen sport of dressage and show jumping, but she worked in a special needs school, was a wife and mother and even bagged up manure to help pay for riding lessons.

Her determination had earned her a place in the Great Britain team.

The whole event had been organised by the Bexhill Observer and the Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Tourism with sponsorship from the United Arab Emirates and Redrow Homes.

Each of the 14 categories had been individually sponsored.

Although group editor Peter Lindsey had been involved in similar award events for seven years, this was the first big event in Bexhill and proved enormously popular with demand for tickets for the award night outstripping availability.

The Bexhill chamber had previously run something on a smaller scale but it was decided to do something bigger after talking to BCC's David Getty.

"We were restricted to 300 places but could have sold 500. It has proved a really popular event and we hope it will continue to be very popular in the years to come," said Peter.

Among the VIPs were the town's MP Greg Barker, town mayor Cllr Eric Armstrong, Rother council chairman Cllr Wendy Miers, heads of St Richard's and the High School Tony Campbell and Mike Conn and their respective chair of governors Peter Champion and Brian Kentfield.