A COURAGEOUS Bradford-born mum who has raised more than £100,000 for charity after fighting a personal battle against cancer has been recognised with a national honour.

Joyce Rothschild has been given a British Citizen Award for her services to volunteering and charitable giving.

The British Citizen Awards were started in January this year to honour unsung heroes who have made a difference to their communities.

The awards are being seen as an alternative to the Government honours system.

Mrs Rothschild, 59, a former pupil at Belle Vue Girls' School in Heaton, Bradford, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer at the age of 40 when her children, Benjamin and Richard, were very young.

She went through radical surgery and chemotherapy, but then after her mastectomy had an agonising 12 month wait for further treatment because the correct diagnostic equipment was not available where she lives in Birmingham.

Undeterred, she decided to raise money to help buy the much-needed equipment.

Her fundraising began on a small scale but snowballed.

Mrs Rothschild researched, wrote and sold a general knowledge quiz, asking for a minimum donation of £2 for each entry, and has continued to do so for the past 18 years, raising more than £100,000.

She donated money to a local hospital in Solihull and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Her money-spinning quiz now has thousands of entries every year from across the world.

Mrs Rothschild is helped with the running of the quiz by her Bradford schoolfriend Yasmi Roberts and her father, Glynn Roberts, 80, who still lives in Bradford, and helps mark hundreds of entries.

Mrs Rothschild's mum, Esther, who is 90, said: "When Joyce gave a wonderful 40th birthday party for family and many friends, she kept to herself the knowledge that something was wrong.

"So when she broke the news to us a few days later, we were devastated.

"This was the worst thing that had ever happened to me, although I had nursed my mother with breast cancer. I felt I was down a deep hole.

"Oddly enough, my husband [Edgar] was optimistic and was a tower of strength to me.

"And now I look back on that bleak period and marvel at all she has accomplished since then.

"As a child, she always had a lot of determination, and as an adult, this is channelled into so much positive activity. Needless to say, I am deeply proud of her."

Mrs Rothschild, who will receive her award at the Palace of Westminster on July 9, said she felt "very excited and honoured" to have been nominated.

Each recipient will receive a Medal of Honour, inscribed with the words For the Good of the Country.

Medallists are also invited to use the initials BCA after their name.