A former councillor for Alconbury and The Stukeleys, Gransden and The Offords, Warboys and Bury and St Ives East has been given a special award.

A group of former councillors have been given special recognition by Huntingdonshire District Council.

At an extraordinary meeting of full council on December 19, councillors bestowed the position of alderman and alderwoman to former district councillors Keith Baker, Barbara Boddington, Peter Bucknell and Deborah Reynolds.

The award was made in recognition of their distinguished public service to the district and people of Huntingdonshire, and to their respective former wards of Alconbury and the Stukeleys, Gransden and the Offords, Warboys and Bury, and St Ives east.

The council introduced the titles of honorary alderman and honorary alderwoman for current and future members of the council who cumulatively have served 12 years as an elected councillor on the district council.

Mr Baker stood down as a district councillor in May 2018 having served three terms of office as members for the former Alconbury and the Stukeleys ward, having been first elected in 2006.

Mrs Boddington was first elected in 2003 and retained her seat in the election in 2004, becoming ward member for Gransden and the Offords until standing down as a councillor in May 2018. Mrs Boddington contributed to a wide range of council activities, and undertook a number of key roles for the council. She was also chairman of the council from 2014 to 2016.

Mr Bucknell also stood down as a councillor in May 2018. He was first elected in 2004 to represent the former Warboys and Bury ward, and went on to serve 12 consecutive years on the district council. He held a number of roles as well as being chairman of the council in May 2015, a role which he undertook for two years having previously been vice-chairman.

Ms Reynolds was first elected to the district council in 1992 and served a four year term as councillor for the former St Neots (Eynesbury) ward. Following a break she was re-elected in 2002 to the former Huntingdon north ward, a seat which she held for two years until the whole council elections in 2004 when she was elected to the new former ward of St Ives east. She held this seat for 14 years until her retirement as a councillor in 2018.