DEDICATED fundraiser Joy Hicks will be receiving a British Empire Medal for all her charitable services in Melksham.

Mrs Hicks, 87, began raising money for Action for Children at the age of 16 and would distribute leaflets, collect money and then bank it.

Action for Children, formerly known as the National Children’s Home, said during her time as a volunteer she helped raise £75,000. She also did a great deal of volunteering for Christian Aid.

Before moving to Loughborough last year, Mrs Hicks had lived in Melksham for 50 years with her late husband John and two children, in Greenwood Road.

She only found out a few weeks ago she was on the New Year Honours' list and was instructed to only tell immediate family until the list was published.

She said: “I was very surprised. I don’t think I deserve it, I did what other people would have done and I enjoyed doing it.

"It’s nice to help people especially children and I had a happy childhood, so I wanted to make sure other children did too.”

Mrs Hicks was also involved with Melksham United Church, which put forward the application for her to receive the honour.

Pamela Packer, from the church, said: “Since she was a teenager she was a volunteer and she raised tremendous amounts of money.”

Other Wiltshire people to receive honours include David Ashmore, of Chippenham, the former chief executive of Greensquare Group, and James Ward, of Trowbridge, a Crown Advocate with the Crown Prosecution Service.