AN 'INSPIRATIONAL' Sale woman has been honoured for her unstinting contribution to the town.

Helen Allen has been rewarded for her service to the community with Sale Rotary Club's annual 'Tom Morris Award'.

The award is a 'people's honour' for those who give 'service above self' to the community in and around Sale.

Helen is a senior staff nurse at Wythenshawe Hospital and combines work and raising a young family with a wide range of voluntary activities.

These range from starting the PEPAIDS charity to help alleviate poverty and HIV/Aids in Zambia, to current roles in the community, such as Life Centre Ambassador, a member of Sale and District Lions Club, and charities officer for Trafford Business Club.

She has been recognised nationally as the British Journal of Nursing’s Nurse of the Year in 2011, and locally as one of the '40 Faces of Trafford'.

Among many other activities, Helen has helped to organise the Sale and District Lions Club Christmas Lunch for senior citizens at the Life Centre and takes part in a wide range of fundraising activities which enable Sale Lions to serve the community, whether supporting a local Wheelchair Paralympic athlete or putting on the annual Father’s Day fete.

Despite recently battling cancer, she still thinks of others, 'blogging' information that combines her medical knowledge with the perspective of someone going through treatment.

The president of Sale Rotary Club, Barbara Blundell, said: “Helen is an inspirational lady and a worthy winner of this year’s Tom Morris Award, demonstrating the Rotary ethos of ‘service above self’.

"It was a pleasure to present the award and to hear of the fantastic work she’s done so far, and continues to do, in spite of adversity.

"We were delighted to be joined by the Mayor of Trafford, Councillor Jonathan Coupe, who presented the award on our behalf."