A WOMAN who has spent 18 years helping raise funds for Poole Hospital Cancer Treatment Trust has been honoured with a special award.

Poole Mayor Cllr Lindsay Wilson presented the Borough of Poole (BOP) gold Community Champion Award to Janet Ballam for "outstanding contribution" as fundraiser and public face of the trust.

Mrs Ballam, along with other trustees, collects for the charity at supermarkets, shops and evens across the local area.

Cllr Wilson said: "Mrs Ballam has been an asset to the Poole Hospital Cancer Treatment Trust and thoroughly deserves to be recognised with this award.

"Her work over the last 18 years has helped countless people and she should be very proud."

The trust's mandate is to raise funds and assist the hospital to buy equipment for diagnosis and treatment for all forms of cancer.

Community Champion Awards are deigned to recognise small things that may go unnoticed but make a massive difference to other people or the community as a whole. They are awarded for three levels of achievement - blue, silver and gold.

Poole Hospital Cancer Treatment Trust chairman Stuart Dean said: "Mrs Ballam will be a hard act to follow and richly deserves the gold community award which was presented to her by the mayor."

Poole Hospital Cancer Treatment Trust was founded in 1972 by Marjorie Lewis-Manning, to raise funds for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Since then more than £7.5 million has been raised for the Poole Hospital Foundation Trust.

Nominations for community champion awards can be made by anyone who feels an individual or group should be recognised for their good work in the community.

Visit poole.gov.uk/communitychampions for further information or to make a nomination.