An “extraordinary” team of ‘fix it’ volunteers won the ‘Neighbour of the Year’ award at the 2023 Ely Hero Awards.

Initially put together to bring a footpath back into use, Team Diamond have since volunteered hundreds of hours of their time.

The group of five work with the parish council to tidy open spaces, litter-pick, install dog poo pins, garden, look after the churchyard, clear the heritage pond, village common and put in benches:

The judges said: “Team D is an extraordinary community team comprising five individuals who have a wide range of skills and access to resources to become the community ‘fix it’ team.

“They look after the whole community, watering trees, removing dead trees, creating self-guided walks in and around Witchford, supporting volunteering and generally making it a wonderful place to live and relax.

”They have a systematic plan of things to be done and what they have achieved for the benefit of the whole community is remarkable.”

After winning the award, two members of Team Diamond said: “We’ve been doing it for many years, and between the group we put 100 hours into the village per week.

“We weren’t expecting to win so we hadn’t prepared anything to say at all.”

The other finalist in this category were Patricia Canham and Teresa Sellars.

This award was sponsored by Masters Logistical Services.