RESIDENTS were recognised as part of a leisure park awards ceremony.

Festival Leisure Park’s Community Awards were presented at Unit 7 nightclub.

The awards showcase the best in the community and saw mayor of Basildon David Dadds, Radio Essex presenter Chris Brooks and Festival Leisure Park’s manager, Matthew Chambers, present the awards to the winners.

The winners included; Phyl Mclaren who came away with volunteer of the year award, Joanne Dilly who was crowned fundraiser of the Year, and Harry Powell who won inspiring young person award.

Matthew Chambers, centre manager of Festival Leisure Park said: “We were delighted to welcome back our community awards and it was a real privilege to meet such inspiring people. It’s important to celebrate the unsung heroes from our community, with many of these people working tirelessly without recognition.

“The awards evening was a great success and it was great to be able to show appreciation for the fantastic work they carry out.

“We’d also like to thank Basildon’s mayor for attending the event and presenting the awards.”

The awards were announced during a major revamp of the park.

The work is set to update the fronts of existing buildings, including the removal of external canopies.

There will also be an events space.