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PARISHIONER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Councillor David Knight took great pleasure in announcing the recipient of North Baddesley Parish Council’s 2010 Parishioner of the Year Award. Mrs Muriel Webster, who ran the Woolshop in Rownhams Road for 24 years, stepped forward to receive the trophy at the Parish Council’s Annual Assembly, AGM and May meeting. Councillor Knight said “Everyone knows Mrs Webster”, who will be 90 years old this year.
After giving up her business in 1993 Mrs Webster let the Baddesley Red Cross use the shop window to put on a monthly display of articles for re-sale. Wendy Knight, of the Red Cross, said this facility had proved very valuable and she presented Mrs Webster with a certificate of thanks and a letter of appreciation from the Red Cross regional director.
Mrs Webster, a Liverpudlian, said she had come to Baddesley as a “foreigner” 44 years ago at a time when the village was beginning to expand. “Baddesley is a very friendly place”, she said.
Her late husband worked for the Ordnance Survey and they had lived in Chessington, Surrey, before following the firm to the new premises in Maybush.
Mrs Webster helps provide refreshments for the Baddesley Baptist Church’s mother and toddler group meetings.