The unsung heroes of the last year have been celebrated in an annual community awards ceremony.

Hoping to recognise and celebrate those who have made huge differences in Beccles, the town's special community awards were presented by the town mayor councillor Andrea Carr on Tuesday, December 17.

Among the award winners were skatepark designers, a beaver leader, and the volunteers behind creating a welfare vehicle for the town.

The Eileen Crisp award for youth went to the Beccles Skatepark Community. This nomination said that, in 2015, Nik Rose started going to the skatepark on a regular basis with his son. It was in quite a bad state and together with the local skaters he decided to investigate building a new one.

"After very positive discussions with the town council [...] they started the path to getting a flagship skatepark built," the nomination read.

"All this hard work paid off in April 2019, when the new skatepark was officially opened. Skaters, scooter and BMX riders are now travelling from all over East Anglia to take advantage of what the park has to offer. The people involved in this project serve as an inspiration and motivation to all others in the town."

The Leslie Freeman award for long service went to the volunteers of the Beccles Community bus, which, after more than 40 years, has come to an end.

Completely organised and run by volunteers, the bus was available for hire to groups of all ages, living in or around Beccles, for a small membership and petrol fee.

Andrew Rowley, a former school teacher and chair of the welfare vehicle for 20 years, was thanked for his work. Michael Doherty, a volunteer driver and chair, and Philip Mitchell, a former chair who organised the "legal footing" of the bus, were also thanked alongside Jeff Harrison, Ron Goddard, Chris Sharp and Freddy Davey.

The Robert Ellwood Award for outstanding service to the community went to John Fisk, a beaver leader nominated for running the weekly club and putting "so much effort into sessions" for more than 20 six to eight year olds, alongside his community work for Gillingham primary school.