Civic Honours

Freedom of the Borough

The Honorary Freedom of the Borough is the highest honour a council can give and is awarded to ‘persons of distinction and persons who have, in the opinion of the Council, rendered eminent services to the Borough’. Recipients of this honour are:

2021 - Nirmal (Nims) Purja MBE

2013 - Dani King MBE

2013 - David Smith

2011 - Philip Spearey

2008 - Doreen Wellfare*

2006 - Christopher Tapp

2005 - Lord Chidgey*

1986 - Frank E Brown*

2003 - Margaret Kyrle OBE JP BA*

1995 - George E Raymond MBE*

1989 - Suzanne Bartlet*

1986 - Dennis A Tranah LLB

1977 - Peter A T Green*

1977 - Norman F N Norris*

1977 - Godfrey G Olson OBE*

1977 - Sir David E C Price DL*

In addition to conferring the honour to individuals, the Freedom of the Borough was also awarded to The Royal Hampshire Regiment in September 1991. This gives the Regiment the right ‘to march through the Borough with drums beating, bands playing and due ceremonial’.

In September 1992 The Royal Hampshire Regiment amalgamated with The Queen's Regiment to form The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (Queen’s and Royal Hampshires). The honour of Freedom has been transferred to the new Regiment.

Citizen of Honour

The title of Citizen of Honour was created by the Borough Council in 1987 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Borough Charter. This award is given every two years with the next one due in 2027. If you would like to nominate someone for this award, please email [email protected] with the reason why they should be nominated.

The 2025 additions to this roll of honour are:

Rose Timms – Citizen of Honour

Rose Timms works tirelessly supporting veterans and their families in Eastleigh. Rose and her husband Dave Sillence run the Eastleigh Armed Forces Veterans Breakfast Club at Katerina’s café where they ensure that every veteran receives a warm welcome and personal recognition for their service.  She never forgets their birthday organising cards and cakes and visits them in hospital.  At Christmas she organises a party at Katarina’s, with entertainment and every guest receiving a card and a present. Rose always goes the extra mile to ensure that the veterans know they are valued and not forgotten. This includes visiting them in care homes and has led to a new breakfast club at Sunnybank Care Home in Fair Oak as they have several veterans who are unable to attend the Eastleigh breakfast club. She fundraises for veterans throughout the year organising raffles and sales for the breakfast club, Royal British Legion, Women’s Royal Army Corp) and Royal Air Force Club in Hamble. Rose is the Poppy Appeal organiser for the Eastleigh, Chandlers Ford & District Branch of the Royal British Legion this year raising £36,000 for her efforts in the Swan Centre, Aldi and B&Q. Throughout the year she is knitting and sewing to make poppies and poppy products for the RBL stall. Rose helps to decorate Eastleigh bandstand with poppies for Remembrance. Following the vandalism this year she stayed up late into the early hours of the morning, sewing strings onto woollen poppies for local school children and young people to tie onto the bandstand at the service to lay the first crosses. This helped something negative become a positive community experience and wouldn’t have been possible without Rose’s dedication and hard work during the busiest time of her year. Rose is a very caring person who dedicates most of her time to support members of our community who should never be forgotten. 

Wendy Cummins – Citizen of Honour

Wendy Cummins of Quiffy’s hairdressers in Boyatt Wood has been inspirational in arranging a Christmas community event for the past eleven years.  

Wendy’s motivation was triggered when parents bringing their children into her shop for haircuts told her how difficult it was to take their children to see Father Christmas as it had become so expensive. The thought that so many children were missing out on seeing Father Christmas broke Wendy’s heart and she felt she had to organise a Christmas community event. With the help of her staff, Hayley Moore, Lauren Biggs, Andrea Howard and Gail Rynne, Wendy organised children’s rides, a magician, carol singing, farm animals, craft and cake stalls and of course, Father Christmas to give residents an afternoon to enjoy and remember. Any money raised is given to help the important work of Eastleigh Basic Banks and the event brings all ages of the community together. Wendy now chairs the Institute for Apprenticeships Trailblazer group and with her team she is aiming to organise more community events. Without a person like Wendy, so many residents in the community would miss out on so much.   

Julie Olden – Citizen of Honour

Julie Olden has been a School Crossing Patrol (lollipop lady) in Bursledon for about 28 years. She always goes above and beyond to get the children to school safely. She makes an effort to greet everyone by name and with a friendly smile through rain or shine and despite impatient traffic. She rarely has a day off despite health issues or illness. All the community love Julie, and she is very deserving of this award. 

Anne Winstanley – Honorary Alderman

Former councillor for her service to Eastleigh Borough Council from 1998-2018.

Other recipients of this award are as follows:

2023 - Val Down

2023 - Mohammed (Moss) Mossadaq *

2023 - Steve Smith

2021 - Melanie Phillips

2021 - Stan Newell

2021 - Pat Statham

2019 - Audrey Steele*

2019 - Sri Kandiah

2017 - Mr D Carter MBE

2017 - Mrs R Carter

2017 - Mr G Taylor

2017 - Jim Vaughan MBE

2015 - Mr A Hunt

2015 - Mrs M Hunt

2015 - Kath Rau

2013 - Andrew Chesshire

2013 - Sonia Davison

2013 - Malcolm Young

2011 - Pam Baker

2011 - Tony Balcombe*

2011 - Ed Dawes BEM*

2011 - Pat Higgins*

2011 - Devan Kandiah*

2009 - Jack Ashton MBE*

2009 - Vera Blunt

2009 - Derik Brooks*

2009 - Caroline Husain

2007 - Norman Brown MBE*

2007 - Geoffrey Owen MBE*

2005 - Barry Alford*

2005 - Phil Oates

2005 - Nick Wise

2003 - Robert Carey*

2003 - Dolly Dawes*

2003 - Cole Mathieson

2003 - Don Watson*

2001 - Jean Hawkins*

2001 - Colin Hearn

2001 - Sylvia J Williams*

1998 - Raymond Vincelot*

1998 - Derrick Shearwood MBE*

1997 - Robert Crompton*

1997 - Lloyd Nias*

1997 - Frederick O'Garr JP*

1997 - Gordon Pigney*

1995 - Mrs G Evans*

1995 - Phil Gardiner*

1995 - R P Moody*

1993 - A J Betts*

1993 - Harry Frith*

1993 - Mrs D G Hindmarch*

1993 - R A L Lofting*

1991 - William Allen BEM*

1991 - Mrs M A Browning*

1991 - Pearl Mace

1991 - Freda Molyneux*

1989 - Walter Mills MBE*

1989 - Iris Price

1987 - Una Collings

1987 - Gordon Cox*

1987 - Len Harvell*

1986 - M Faisse*

1986 - Ernst Fischer*

* deceased

Honorary Aldermen

It was agreed to recognise the public service of former members of the Council who have retired from office by introducing the title of Honorary Alderman. The title will be awarded to former members who served for twelve years or more from 1974/1975 and who are not actively seeking re-election.

David Airey

Carol Boulton

Mike Buckingham

Haulwen Broadhurst

Colin Bull

John Caldwell

Dan Clarke

Gillian Connell

Andrew Cossey

Colin Davidovitz

Glynn Davies-Dear

Cathie Fraser

George Fraser

David Goodall

Judith Grajewski

Pamela Holden-Brown

June Hughes

Michael Hughes

Martin Kyrle

Peter Luffman

Trevor Mignot

Godfrey Olson

William Pepper

Angela Roling

Cliff Simpkins

Graeme Smith

Roger Smith

Maureen Sollitt

Steve Sollitt

Philip Spearey

Chris Thomas

Mike Thornton

Peter Wall

Jane Welsh

Anne Winstanley

Roger Wood

Andrew Wray