A Poppy Appeal organiser and Royal British Legion standard bearer has been named as Guisborough's citizen of the year.

Fergus Osborne received the honour last Thursday when Guisborough Town Council held its annual Civic Assembly at Sunnyfield House.

Guests included Councillor Neil Bendelow, mayor of Redcar and Cleveland Council, and council leaders from other east Cleveland parishes.

The evening was chaired by the mayor of Guisborough Town Council, Councillor Andrew Hixon, who announced Mr Osborne as his choice for the nomination of Guisborough’s citizen of the year.

Mr Osborne is the standard bearer for the Guisborough branch of the Royal British Legion and officiates at the annual Remembrance Service in November at the war memorial at the town's St Nicholas Church. He is often standard bearer for the Guisborough British Legion branch at many other ceremonies, and also organises the Poppy Appeal each year for the Guisborough area.

Guests at the function were provided with a snack meal and wine and were treated to songs from Beth Miller. Following the meal, Councillor Hixon presented several voluntary groups with grants from the town council.

These included the East Cleveland Basketball Club, the Friends of Chaloner Market, the Friends of Guisborough Cemetery, Gisborough Priory Project, Guisborough and East Cleveland Sea Cadets, Guisborough Mini Rugby FC, Guisborough in Bloom, Guisborough Museum, Guisborough Royal British Legion and Guisborough Salvation Army Citadel.

Cllr Hixon also announced that the charities that he would support during his mayoral year would be the Guisborough and East Cleveland Sea Cadets, and the Teesside Charity, which supports local people and businesses to join together to make Teesside a better place.