FOR more than 10 years, Margaret Vidow has helped friends and relatives by giving them lifts and doing their shopping.

Her efforts have now been acknowledged in Hampshire County Council's "Good Neighbours" Awards.

Margaret (81), from Stanmore, Winchester, was presented with two engraved glasses and a commemorative scroll.

She said she was stunned when she received her invitation to the presentation ceremony at the Great Hall, Winchester.

"At first, I said I didn't want to go because there were people more deserving than me," she added.

Margaret still doesn't know who put her name forward.

She took up voluntary work in the 1980s after retiring as a bookbinder at Culverland Press, Winnall, Winchester.

Since then, she has helped several people, including her brother, by doing their shopping and laundry.

Margaret has also provided lifts to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital and, in the case of one elderly woman, she went much further than just acting as a driver.

"When she was rushed to hospital, I stayed with her until she was comfortable in a ward," she explained.

The ceremony was attended by 40 award-winners.

They also included John Stepney, from Winchester, who was honoured in the same category at Margaret.

Charles D. Campbell, from Eastleigh; Margaret Wignall, from Romsey; Jenny Lynch, from Wickham; and Susan Bowman and Dennis F. Littlecott, from the Eastleigh Good Neighbours group, also won awards.

Richard Noakes, from Four Marks Care, and Elizabeth Tew, from Medstead Voluntary Care Group, were all winners, too, and, among the New Forest volunteers to receive awards were Raymond Chivers, from Hythe; Keren Middle, from Lymington; and Elizabeth King, from the Hythe and District Voluntary Care Group.