At a committee meeting in January, it was unanimously decided that the recipients of this year’s Tony Jerram award should be brothers, Will and John Dallimore. Will had been a committee member since the foundation of The Badsey Society, thus had been ineligible when both he and John were nominated a few years ago. However, Will sadly died on 27th December. A precedent was set in 2016 when Richard Phillips was given the award posthumously, so it was decided to give the award to Will. But, behind every great man there’s a great woman, so they say. It’s true to say that, behind every great Will there was a great younger brother. A precedent was set in 2017 when two people, brother and sister Robert Welch and Tracey Hemming, were given the award. Thus it was decided that the award should be given to both Will and John.
Will was involved with so many activities:
- Served on the Committee of The Badsey Society since 2002, Chairman for five years and Treasurer for two years.
- One of the original Badsey website group when it was set up in 2000. For a few years, he then set up www.badsey.org.uk – a community website.
- Responsible for making “The Market Gardener” film, and also involved with the Society’s previous films.
- Will was the narrator at the Sladden Evening presentations.
- Editor of Community News for several years.
Jointly with John, the two of them were nominated for the following reasons:
- Indispensable over the years doing all the heavy work at the Flower Show and exhibitions – looking after the gazebo and exhibition boards.
- Both keen on making movies. Their film 'Santa's Special' (made for Liz and Ralph Bolland to show during their Christmas Charity week) was in a competition for video camera clubs from Worcester, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud and Bristol. They took first prize and held the Ray Toleman Trophy for a year.
- Both were keen to promote Asum grammar, which they did with their Doug Deep movie.
- Keepers of The Badsey Society’s growing collection of market gardening tools. Volunteered to build a shed in their back garden to house all the tools. This was officially opened at the end of the midsummer walk in 2016. They had worked overtime the day before to ensure the new shed, called “The Drill Hall”, was ready.
- Hosted several events in their back garden after midsummer walks.
- Kept the village entertained during lockdown with their “Back Garden Films”, posted weekly for three months. John also made a short film called, “The Quiet Streets of Badsey”.
- Helped out every Wednesday morning at the church tidying the churchyard.
John was unable to attend the AGM, but the award was presented to him the next day at his home in Horsebridge Avenue.