Two important awards were presented at the Annual Town Meeting in Ivybridge by the Mayor Alan Spencer.

The David Britton Citizen of the Year Award went to Andy Edmonds.

Andy received the award in recognition of all his voluntary work training people in the community to carry out CPR and use defibrillators, volunteering his skills for no charge and providing this life saving training.

Andy said: ‘‘I didn’t know I’d been entered for it. I’m honoured but it’s not about awards. I’d do it anyway.’’

The Nick Cummins Community Group of the Year Award was given to the Ivybridge Brewing Co.

This was in recognition of the service they provide to the town, offering their team opportunities to learn new skills, gain confidence, improve their self-esteem and demonstrate their positive contribution in the local community.

Founder Simon Rundle said: ‘‘Ivybridge Brewing Company is a social enterprise that provides paid work and training opportunities for adults with learning disabilities in Ivybridge and the surrounding area.

‘‘We were founded in 2018 and, after two years brewing in a small kitchen in Ivybridge Town Hall (courtesy of Ivybridge Town Council) we set up a larger brewery and taproom in Glanvilles Mill in 2021.

‘‘We now support fourteen people in various activities such as brewing, bottling, packaging, retail and bar service.

‘‘We are honoured to have been presented the Nick Cummins award and the team feel rightly proud of have recognised of the hard work they put in to producing and selling our beers.

‘‘Community is at the heart of what we do.

‘‘Many of our team are well known within the town and our central location means that passers by can see them at work within the brewery.

‘‘The support from the town’s people for what we are trying to achieve has also been tremendous and we now how a lot of regular customers to our shop and a thriving taproom.’’

David Britton was awarded the Citizen of the Year award posthumously in 2012.

David’s was admired by the many people he came across for his ability to interact with everyone.

He volunteered freely of his time to many organisations in the town over the years, including Ivybridge Caring where he always had a smile, the Ivybridge Twinning Association and Ivybridge Rotary Club.

The Nick Cummins Community Group of the Year award is named after the late Nick Cummins who was heavily involved in Manstow Football Club and who epitomised community endeavour.