A WEIGHTWATCHERS leader is celebrating 30 years of slimming service in Worcester.

Carol Davis, 63, who lives in Alfrick, near Malvern, was presented with the award by Gerry Lancaster, area service manager for Weightwatchers in front of her meeting at Worcester Baptist Church, in Sansome Walk, on Wednesday, July 19.

She received a gift voucher for £750 to spend as she wishes.

Ms Lancaster said: “Carol is an outstanding coach and is much loved. She really has touched the hearts of many of our members.

“It really is a job where you change lives for the better and she has got quite a strong following.”

Ms Davis first became a Weightwatchers member in 1986 because she wanted to lose weight. She lost 38 pounds and became a coach a year later.

She worked full time until very recently and now hosts four meetings a week across Worcestershire.

She said: “I wanted to help other people like the other leaders helped me.

“I’ve met hundreds, probably thousands of people.

“The best thing is seeing the members achieve their goal weights, their dreams and their aspirations. It’s great just seeing the look on the members faces when they achieve what they want to achieve.”

She is unsure what the biggest weight loss she has seen is, but said several members have lost more than 100 pounds.

“At the moment I’ve got four or five brides-to-be trying to get in their dresses,” she said.

“People have taken up jogging because they’ve lost the weight, others have been on blood pressure tablets and they now no longer have to take them. It really does change people’s lives.”

She said the weekly meetings helped improve many lives and in some cases have saved them.

“I had member who, if she hadn’t lost the weight, wouldn’t have found out that she had cancer,” she said.

Ms Davis says she has no plans to stop and will continue helping her members lose weight.