GRAYSHOTT was honoured with the title Champion of Champions after another raft of awards in a competition for Hampshire communities.

And in the same competition Grayshott councillor and East Hampshire District Council keader, Ferris Cowper, was given a lifetime achievement award for his years of work in the community.

In all, the village won seven gongs in the annual Hampshire Association of Local Councils awards.

Grayshott was the only East Hampshire village to win any awards in this year’s ceremony, held at the end of the last month. It narrowly mixed out on the Village of the Year award, which went to Lyndhurst.

Mr Cowper said he was delighted to win the category Inspirational Individual Lifetime Achievement, which he won along with George Bisson from Lyndhurst, but was even more gratified to see recognition for Grayshott’s thriving community spirit.

“I am incredibly proud to call Grayshott my home,” he said.

“It takes a lot of work from a lot of people to make a successful community, people must be willing to put themselves out, to put others first and do things for the benefit of the village as a whole. It takes a certain kind of attitude and we have that attitude in abundance in Grayshott.

“I am very proud of everyone who has worked so hard to make Grayshott the fantastic place it is to live and work.

“To win the lifetime achievement award was just the icing on the cake for me, and a wonderful surprise.”

In a new “masterclass” category Grayshott and Bembridge on the Isle of Wight will be given separate awards to mark their “Champion of Champions” status.

Other awards picked up by Grayshott during the ceremony included Best Community Pub, for The Fox and Pelican, and the Excellence in Localism award for its partnership working on the three pavements project.

The village hall was highly commended, as was an entry into the Best Environment Project, for three new footpaths.

The village’s playground also came runner-up in its category.

Association chief executive Steven Lugg said: “This competition is a shining beacon of localism, where outcomes far outweigh the inputs through local planning and endeavour.”

The awards, held in Enham Place, near Andover, were sponsored by Fullers Brewery.