A mum who set up a charity to help families like her own has won a national award.

Jean Wilson, of Worcester, won the Volunteer of the Year award for the hard work she had put into setting up the charity New Hope, based in Wells Road.

The mum-of-three set up the charity in July 2010 after discovering a lack of facilities to support her and her nine-year-old daughter Emily who has autism.

The New Hope project, which Ms Wilson runs voluntarily, supports 50 families in Worcestershire providing daytime respite care.

Her daughter Tara Hughes nominated her for the award run by children’s charity Cerebra.

Ms Wilson, who is also mum to William, said: “I didn’t know about it until after she had made the nomination. I never thought in a million years I would win any awards.”

Chris Jones, chief executive of Cerebra, said: “As well as supporting and bringing up her own family, in recent years Jean has given freely of her own precious time to make such a huge difference to the lives of so many others.”