Chippenham councillor Maureen Lloyd has received an award from the Lions for 50 years of charity work – despite not being a Lion.

It is the first time the group has given its highest form of recognition – a Melvin-Jones Fellowship Award – to a non-member.

Coun Lloyd, of Honeybrook Close, Chippenham, who started her volunteering career in the Scouts after the first of her seven children were born, said she could not have achieved the award alone.

“It is a great tribute, and I’m still shocked and amazed that I was the recipient,” she said.

“However, there have been many people who have helped me to follow my dreams, and they all deserve a great deal of thanks too.”

Coun Lloyd, 77, is directly involved in many groups around Chippenham, including the Chippenham District Transport for the Disabled, the British Legion, Waste Not Want Not and the Sailing and Canoeing Club, as well as being chairman and non-executive director for Jephson Housing in the South West.

She said: “I’m very lucky to have had the support I have had from my family and friends.

“I just take my day as positively as I can. I never actually think about how other people perceive me, and it was only when I was given this award that it crossed my mind. I just get up, get on with things and do what I do because I want to.”

The former mayor, whose husband Desmond died four years ago, had no idea she was to receive the award last Saturday.

She said: “I was absolutely stunned, completely shell-shocked.

“I naively thought I had just been invited along as a guest, because I go to as many of their social events as I can. The only reason I haven’t joined the Lions is because I simply don’t have the time, but I’ve always supported them.”

Lions co-president Edwina Hutchinson said: “She has done so much work for our town and the community.

“She is involved in so many different parts of the community and helps with so many charities, that we felt she was a thoroughly deserving winner."