The title of ‘Honorary Townsman’ can be awarded to anybody in recognition of their services to the town of Wem and its people.
Each year since 1983, the Councillors have the opportunity to undertake one of their more enjoyable duties on behalf of all in Wem, that of considering whether they can make suitable nominations for ‘The Honorary Townsman’s Award’. This is the highest honour that can be conferred by them and is not undertaken lightly.
In 2026 the Town Council agreed to open up the nominations process to permit members of the public to nominate people for this award on the condition that each nomination must be sponsored by a serving councillor.
The award is only given to someone who the Town Council wishes to honour in this way and they then record their name on the Town’s Honours Board and as such they will become part of a very special and select group of people. Therefore this is an important matter which needs serious consideration. The award is given to no more than two people in any one Civic year and in some years The Council may decide not to make the award at all due to no nominees being suitable.
Nominations for the title of Honorary Townsman of Wem are now considered each year by the Town Council at its June meeting (25/6/26) with a final decision made at the July meeting. If you wish to nominate someone for this honour please fill in the nomination form below which will then need to be sponsored by a Town Councillor. Contact details of Town Councillors can be found on the councillor pages of this website. Deadline for 2026 Nominations is 17/6/26
A presentation evening is then held later in the year.
This title was first awarded in 1983 and listed below are all the recipients of this award from that date
1983 GEORGE E FURBER
CLIVE KYNASTON
JIM LEWIS
RUBY MUSGROVE
BILL TAYLOR
DON WOOLLAM
1984 DR J KEELING-ROBERTS
CHRISTOPHER H SIMMONS
1985 SANDY LYLE
1987 MRS EMILY E ASTLY
BRIAN BAILEY
LES BUTLER
JOHN DROMGOOL
1988 MR R LEE
MRS R LEE
MRS GWEN REEVES
1989 FREDERICK L BOXALL
MRS BERYL DAVIES
CLLR TOM GROOM JP
D J WOOLLAM
1990 MRS JOAN GERMAN
BRIAN PERRY
SYBIL RUSCOE
1992 MRS DIANA STRONG
1993 BILL GREAVES
1994 MRS SHEILA GOUGH
CHARLIE THORLEY
1999 MRS NANCY WILSON
2001 JOHN PHILLIPS
2002 LINDA ETHERINGTON
2003 T F EDWARDS
2004 JOHN GOOD
VAL GOOD
2006 ALAN WALKER
ALLEN EVANS
2007 EVELYN HINTON
EDITH O'RAHILLY
2008 PHIL SMITH
IAN FINCH
2009 ALAN DENISON
LARRY JENKINS
2011 TIM GRIFFITHS
ELSIE GRIFFITHS
2013 SUE HOLLIDAY
2014 PEGGY CARSON
MRS THELMA BROOM
2015 MRS WYLLIS TURNER
2016 MRS MARGARET SIMMONS
2017 ROGER ASHTON
ROD OWENS
2018 RICHARD LEAR
MRS DEE LEAR
2021 PAULINE DEE
CHRIS MELLINGS
2022 JOHN MURRAY
2023 CLAIRE GLOVER
2024 S JOHN ROBERTS
OLIVER RICHARDSON
2025 SHELAGH RICHARDSON
GREG DAVIES