A CHURCH stalwart named in the New Year Honours says the award is down to her faith and the good friends who have supported her over many years.

Freda Davies, awarded the British Empire Medal for services to her community, has been involved in supporting Hallow Church and many charities for the last 50 years.

The 83-year-old great grandmother of Hallow, near Worcester, said: "Without the support of many people who are not with us now I would not be receiving this award."

She said people in the parish had supported her 'to the hilt', most significantly with her fundraising Bridge Drive over the last 20 years. Held at Hallow Village Hall, the Bridge Drive has been the most rewarding aspect of her work, allowing people to meet, make new friends and socialise with old ones, enjoy hot food and play Bridge. Taking place once a month, mainly older people have been able to enjoy a hot two-course lunch. On average organisers fill 15 tables and seat 60 people.

This is usually increased to between 20 and 25 tables at Christmas time which is the only meal that requires a booking. People attend from all over the county and from as far away as Ledbury in Herefordshire and Dudley.

In total she and others have worked together to raise £90,000 over those two decades for the church as she put her catering skills to good use.

However, many other charities and good causes have also benefited from the fundraising including St Richard's Hospice, Sight Concern, the Scouts, the Women's Institute, Hallow Parish Hall and the victims of the 2007 floods in Worcester and those of a tsunami in Haiti.

Mrs Davies was a Sunday School teacher in Hallow for 24 years and a chorister, sexton and county chairman of the Federation of WIs.

The mother-of-three, grandmother-of-four and great grandmother to a five-month-old said she had also been well supported by her family, including her late husband David who died in 2003.

She said: "I would say my faith has been important. That has given me the energy and strength to do what I do because it can be physically very demanding, the work that I do."