A FURNESS woman has been nominated for a community award for more than 30 years of tireless work helping to protect the most vulnerable in our society.

Loretta Blackburn has been put forward for the Lifetime Achievement Award in this year's Heart of Ulverston Awards.

For 32 years she has worked with the NSPCC in Furness, serving as its branch chairwoman for 25 of those.

Mrs Blackburn, 68, of Elleriggs, Ulverston, said she would be glad if her nomination drew attention to the life-changing work the NSPCC does.

She said: "I hope it will draw attention to the work that we do. I never thought it would be something that I would be nominated for."

Mrs Blackburn said that while growing up, she was instilled with a strong sense of the importance of helping others by her family. During her earlier life this brought her into contact with the charity Barnados, and eventually the NSPCC.

The Ulverston fundraiser's journey with the children's charity has a humble beginning. Her first job was standing on street corners, asked to "shake a can and hold a bucket" for donations.

Now in her fourth decade with the charity, Mrs Blackburn paid tribute to the chairwomen of the trust who supported her when she first joined.

She said: "I would thank Julia Langtree and Eileen Milligan who brought me into the NSPCC."

In the last year alone, Mrs Blackburn and her fellow members at the NSPCC in Furness have raised more than £30,000.

She said this was made possible by the team pulling together and always setting high targets.

She said: "Every time we have an event we try and make is as successful as possible, I always put a mental figure in my mind and generally speaking we do end up raising that amount.

"I'm always amazed with how generous people are but I would ask people to always volunteer."

Nominations are still open for this year's Heart of Ulverston Awards. Pick up a nomination form from the Ulverston Town Council office, or click here .

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