Community Award 2017

Farmborough Parish Council nominates Patrick Bridges for the Chelwood Bridge Rotary Club Community Award 2017.

Patrick is born and bred in Farmborough and is very involved with all aspects of village life – he is the Tower Captain for the Church, maintains and winds the clock, decorates the Church at Christmas and helps give some of the older villagers a vital social lifeline through Tuesday Teas. His kindness and generosity towards other villagers is legendary, but as a very thoughtful and modest man he seldom makes public what he does or indeed takes any credit for it. However, Patricks major significant contribution to life in Farmborough is The Farmborough Flyer. A free monthly newsletter that goes to every house in the village with news of local events, local people, updates from the Church, the Parish Council, the County Council and wider initiatives that may affect the village. Patrick collects and researches all the news items, edits and collates the Flyer, gets it printed and formatted and oversees a team of volunteers who distribute it to every home in the village.  The Flyer has been going for well over 10 years now and as the village currently has no shop, no real community centre and with many new people moving in it is a vital way of communicating and making people feel part of the village community. This is all down to Patrick and we feel we would like to acknowledge his contribution as being not only outstanding but of enormous benefit to the entire community of Farmborough and for this reason we would like to nominate him for the 2017 Community Award.