An Audlem woman has been honoured by the North West Ambulance Service after clocking up 51 years’ of voluntary service.
Maureen Barratt has been awarded the “Outstanding Contribution to the Ambulance Service” honour.
Back in 1973, Maureen started volunteering as a Patient Transport Service Volunteer Car Driver (VCD).
Earlier this month, Maureen and members of her family attended Crewe PTS Hub where she was presented with a commendation, flowers and cake from Senior Operations Manager Steven Hockenhull.
Maureen said: “Volunteering has kept me going, it’s been absolutely great.
“Sometimes, I have so much going on in my life that coming in to volunteer feels like a rewarding way to spend my free time, and can actually feel like a rest!”
Initially, Maureen joined the team at Leighton Hospital taking elderly people to and from day care.
This progressed into more general outpatient transport.
She went on to volunteer for the Cheshire County Ambulance Service and continued with Mersey Regional, then with North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), and now with the Trust as a VCD.
Before this, Maureen would spend time transporting children to nursery in Crewe.
Away from volunteering, Maureen is married to husband Derek and they had two twin boys and a daughter.
One of their sons sadly died of cancer.
Maureen is grandmother to five grandchildren and three great grandchildren, along with a garden full of old tractors lovingly restored by Derek.
Also at the presentation was operations manager for Cheshire Drew Butler, and Patient Transport Services (PTS) team hub supervisor Ian Mottershead.
Mrs Barratt. Well done and deserved.