Community champion Mark Sanderson has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to the community, particularly over the Covid pandemic.

A civic service was held at St Mary’s Church on Sunday, October 30, attended by the lord lieutenant, high sheriff, deputy lieutenants, chair of Herefordshire Council, mayor of Ross Ed O’Driscoll, local councillors, and other civic and charity dignitaries.

During the service, Mark Sanderson was presented with the BEM by the Lord-Lieutenant of Herefordshire, Mr Edward Harley OBE. The award was in recognition of his services to the community, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The rector of St Mary’s, Rev Sean Semple reflected upon Mark’s 30 years of service to the life, work, and witness of St Mary’s and the community of Ross.

He said: “For 26 years Mark has been the director of music, and has lead St Mary’s Choir, with great leadership and professional expertise. Mark’s extensive voluntary service to the community has included setting up and managing the ‘createROSS’ website which enhances people’s lives through creativity, inspiration, fun, and self-expression; the ‘Museum Without Walls’ website which uses augmented reality to bring back lost aspects of Ross’s past, and in recent years he has mentored St Mary’s church in technological advancements such as live-streaming of services including weddings and funerals, which has kept people connected around the globe and through the pandemic.”

Last July the Gazette reported on the augmented reality trail around the town showing historical reconstructions from the past has finally been expanded and now features seven sites which users can view on smartphones or mobile devices. This was thanks to a grant from Herefordshire Council’s “Great Places to Visit fund”, which was given to Ross-on-Wye’s Museum Without Walls.

Augmented reality is an interactive experience, where a person can use their smart phone to view real-world places, but with visual additions, alterations, or extra information. For example, a mobile phone might take the view from its camera and alter or annotate the video feed to add contextual information, such as annotations, or a superimposed image. In this case it can demonstrate what parts of Ross looked like many years ago.

createROSS created the virtual museum trail, which brings Ross-on-Wye’s rich heritage and history to life.