The winners of the Hampshire Countryside Awards were announced last week at a ceremony near Winchester organised by the countryside charity, CPRE Hampshire.
Different groups and projects from throughout the county, all of whom are working towards improving the countryside, made the Finalist shortlist and were invited to attend.
The Finalists got to showcase their work and build links with other similar projects within Hampshire. The evening ended with the awards presentation to the five lucky Winners.
Each were presented with a commemorative plaque. The winners were:
Community and Voluntary: Petersfield Society’s Community Tree Project
Young People: Oasis Down to Earth Farm
Rural Enterprise: Beechcroft Farm
Making Places: Hillier’s Haven, Winchester City Council
Sparsholt Village Post-Office and Shop received Special Recognition for their contribution to the countryside.
New for this year was the Hampshire’s Choice Award. This gave the public the chance to vote for their favourite project out of the list of finalists, to win £500 towards their project.
CPRE Hampshire Chief Executive Charlee Bennett said: “We were amazed with the response, that saw over 2,000 votes being cast. We are delighted to announce that Winchester Youth Counselling were the well-deserved winners. They will receive £500 towards their brilliant work providing free Nature Therapy sessions for young people, helping to improve their emotional health and wellbeing.”
Some of the young people from Winchester Youth Counselling attended on the night and were there to receive the cheque with representatives from the project.
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