A Clean Sweep To MBE

Drum Housing resident Sydney Wiltshire has recently been awarded with the MBE by The Queen at Windsor Castle. The proud council worker is born and bred in Petersfield and has lived in his home in Highfield Road with wife Lyn for more than 25 years.

But it is Syd's character whilst dedicatedly cleaning Petersfield's streets for the last 40 years that has won him so many friends and a fair few awards too. He has won 'Life in Petersfield' awards for the last two years running, initially as Community Worker of the year in 2008 and then last year, as Personality of the year. These were, however eclipsed by the Imperial Award bestowed on him by The Queen on behalf of the nation.

Although Syd has no idea how his name got put in front of the Queen, he is very keen to thank everyone that helped him to that heady height. "It's wonderful when people stop to chat, or thank me for the work I do around the town, but this is something else. I suppose I've always got a smile whatever the weather, after all, life's too short – just look at the size of me!"

Having just celebrated his 60th birthday, Syd followed in his father and grandfather's footsteps by working for the local council. He still enjoys working in the open air and chatting to people and despite having had a knee replacement two years ago, plans to continue working as long as he can. "Just don't put me in a black bag when I'm gone", he laughs.

Syd's awards follow on the heels of recognition from the NSPCC for the amount of money he and Lyn have raised for the charity. What started as a typical joke for Syd, fining fellow holiday makers in Bembridge, Isle of Wight in the late 80s, a few pence if they weren't entering into the spirit of fancy dress nights or by selling and reselling quizzes. This 'joke' escalated until Lyn and Syd were raising over £5,000 each time they went on holiday and more when they got back home, to a total of over £60,000.

Although Syd remains very modest about the award, despite Lyn's teasing, he remembers the day perfectly. He recalls how nervous he was when he saw the pennant flying over the castle, as he knew that if it was flying then The Queen was in residence. He still remembers word for word what he was told to do in the presence of Her Majesty and his nerves only grew as they worked their way down the list alphabetically to "W".

Although Syd and Lyn have been in their home for the last 25 years, it has changed beyond recognition, with Radian installing new kitchen and bathrooms, new heating, insulation, new windows, soundproofing and new combi-boiler amongst other improvements. Lyn declared, "The electricity bill is now at least 25% cheaper but we were absolutely gobsmacked due to the fact that after Radian had done all this work and spent around £60,000 on doing it, and the money we are now saving, the rent is now actually cheaper!"