A CELEBRATION of Marlow’s best loved people, places, events and projects saw the town come together for an awards ceremony on Saturday night, dubbed the best ever by organisers.

The Hidden Gems Awards shines a spotlight on town success stories, with categories such as best pub, favourite teacher and services to charity.

More than 170 people put on their glad rags for the third annual Marlow FM bash at the Crowne Plaza Hotel for a three-course dinner before the gongs were handed out.

Winners on the night included Sandygate School, which picked up the ‘Watt Next’ eco award for its Eco-Schools project and Tony Shepherd for his tireless work on the charity light show on his house in Marlow Bottom.

Marlow Hockey Club Ladies 5s were named the sports team of the year, and Burgers Bakery beat of stiff competition to be judged the best place in town to get a cup of tea for the third year running.

And rowing coach Robin Williams received a special recognition after battling bladder cancer to coach Helen Glover and Heather Stanning in the run up to the Olympics.

Tim Ashburner, founder of the community radio station which hosts the awards, said: "It was definitely the best one yet and we raised about £4500 for the station.

"That isn't our primary aim though - that is to reward people in the Marlow community.

"We had a record number of nominations, it was great the number put forward by the community and people nominating their neighbours for things they had done.

"It was quite glitzy affair this year, with lots of audiovisual elements and videos looking back on the year in Marlow."

Half of the categories went to a public vote, while the remaining prizes were judged by an expert panel.

Marlow FM's Philip Evans received the Courage Award for his huge efforts in bailing out the station's Longridge studios in the face of widespread devastation when the Thames burst its banks in January.

And Teacher of the Year went right to the wire, with Caroline Lock, deputy head at Holy Trinity School beating Suzanne Best of Little Marlow by just seven votes.

Marlow Mayor Suzanne Brown, who was on the judging panel and handed out some awards, said: "It was a really great night, lots of fun. I was very pleased so many people voted.

"It's great to acknowledge people who would not normally get that sort of accolade and it means a lot to them."

See this week's Marlow Free Press for the full list of winners