In this day and age there are so many people who are quick to criticise others so, instead, I have great pleasure in praising the hardest working lady I know who lives in Marlborough.

Her name is Anna Forbes and I have known her for about five years and am amazed at how much she completes in one week! I am lucky that I work with Anna and have experienced her kind support firsthand recently when I had a small accident. But it is mainly for her dedication to conservation and as a valuable member of the ARK team that I have most admiration for her.

I know of some of her many important projects and I am amazed at the enthusiasm with which she approaches these, even when she is tired and has other jobs she needs to do. She is inspiring and has incredible stamina and a great work ethic and I am very proud to know her.

She is a dedicated mother to her son and has successfully introduced her conservation beliefs to him, so much so that he is now also a very knowledgeable and valuable member of the ARK team.

She has also taught me that even the minutest of creatures has a valuable place in our world, to maintain our wildlife.

Every week Anna successfully leads her team of ARK volunteers to work for the environment, cleaning the river, and preparing the meadow to encourage wildlife which could so easily become extinct.

In doing this she is also is very good at educating people and passing on her vast knowledge of conservation so that they understand what and why they are doing what they do. And this is only part of her work as she often prepares reports, takes photos and films of the wildlife for us us all to enjoy.

I think that Marlborough, and in particular ARK and our valuable asset of Stonebridge Meadow, are extremely lucky to have Anna on their side.

She works in our community and for our community, using and preserving our resources to improve and repair previous damage, making the environment better for all of us and for future generations. We surely cannot ask for more than that and this ought to be acknowledged.

In my opinion, and I know that many others support Anna wholeheartedly, wouldn’t it be lovely if such a fine upstanding and caring person were to be our next citizen of the year of Marlborough?

Sheena Bird, Jockey Green, Great Bedwyn.