Last year when I won the Community Focus award I so so proud and since then I have been keen to ensure I maintained my level of support to the community. So far this year in partnership with Brighton University we have held the first "How 2 Promotion" event showing local community organisations, charities and sports teams how to promote themselves for free via thebestof Eastbourne Community Hub. We have also just completed a community video to encourage other groups to get involved with our community hub giving them a much-needed platform for their charity, group or team! You can see this on our YouTube Channel.

The text below as it appeared in the Eastbourne Herald

thebestof Eastbourne scooped a national award for its outstanding commitment to supporting the community at a ceremony held on Friday 28th March. The event celebrated the achievements of marketing businesses across the UK, with David Ruddle from thebestof Eastbourne winning the Community Focus award.

As well as working to promote its members who are all local businesses, thebestof Eastbourne supports local groups, charities, sports clubs and other community organisations. New initiatives for 2014 include the sponsoring of Eastbourne Rangers' football team shirts. These were unveiled the day after the awards ceremony.

Collecting the award, Mr Ruddle said: "Here at thebestof Eastbourne we choose which businesses members we work with carefully. They have to be great at what they do and have a passion for a better Eastbourne."

Michelle Downey, head of thebestof comments: "We are thrilled to be recognising and rewarding David Ruddle with thebestof Community Focus Award 2014. His drive and passion for Eastbourne and the people within it, is clear for us all to see. He tirelessly goes out of his way to make a difference and support his communities locally.