LESLEY Matthews, a volunteer for the Beanstalk charity, won the award honouring voluntary contributions in schools for her work with Atlas Primary School.

She has been visiting the inner city school for the past eight years, and provides one-on-one literacy support to vulnerable children who have fallen behind with their reading.

The award is to recognise the unpaid work being done by a legion of volunteers across Bradford’s schools.

Mrs Matthews had been nominated for the award by the school, which said: “Mrs Matthews is a dedicated and kind volunteer who works very hard to engage the children in her group. She is patient and thoughtful and will go out of her way to investigate additional strategies to engage a child when a particular strategy isn’t working.”

Taking to the stage to accept the award, she told the audience she had “far more satisfaction” in doing her voluntary work than she did in her prior - paid - jobs.

She said she would carry on volunteering “until they carry me out”.

Mrs Matthews added: “This award is an acknowledg-ement that they appreciate me, but really this is just something extra. I love doing this.

“The real reward is the children. I’ve had children who tell me they really miss me, it shows that you mean a lot to them. It is great when you hear them say they look forward to coming in certain days because they know you’re doing a reading session that day.

“I really want this to help encourage other people to become volunteers. You hear a lot of people moaning about Bradford’s education, but there is an awful lot of good work going on, not just by paid staff, but also the volunteers.”

The category was sponsored by charity The Penny Appeal.

l Honorary mentions:

Bingley Grammar School - National Citizenship Service

Tracey Phillipson and Karen Gill, St Joseph’s