BASINGSTOKE AND DEANE SPORTS AWARDS

Last night at the Apollo Hotel, the Basingstoke Sports Council held its prestigious Annual Sports Award Dinner sponsored by, amongst others, the Gazette, Breeze FM and Rotary. The event brought together more than 150 successful Sportsmen and women from all over the Borough. Oakley BC had finalists in four categories, Alice Lovett for Junior Sportswoman, Nicole Rogers for Senior Sportswoman, the Oakley rink of Nicole, Lorna Devonish, Heather Statham and Alice for Senior Team and both Kay and Spencer Kerley for the Service to Sport award. With Nicole, last year, having won both the Sportswoman and Sports Personality awards and with stiff competition from Basingstoke's galaxy of World, European and British champions, it seemed unlikely that the last year's success could be repeated. This proved to be the case as Basingstoke Hockey Club scooped four of the awards. However, there was success for Oakley in the Service to Sport Award, where the judges announced that of the six finalists two stood out and they had been unable to separate them, so, for the first time, the award was jointly awarded to Kay and Spencer Kerley.