DISABLED Dorset woman Alison Davis has won a top national award for her charity work.
Miss Davis, 46, who has spina bifida and has been in a wheelchair since she was 14, scooped the Woman of the Year title and a £30,000 cheque in recognition of the work her charity, Enable (Working In India), has done.
Miss Davis, from Milborne St Andrew, set up the organisation in 1995, which gives disabled children and young people in Andhra Pradesh, India, medical attention, rehabilitation, food, clothing and life skills.
Miss Davis, who is a researcher into medical ethics, said: "I am amazed that I won.
"I never thought I would so I'm still a bit astounded.
"The money is a year's fundraising for us so it will make an enormous difference to the organisation and will help more children."
In more than seven years she has helped raise £170,000 towards furnishing a classroom and dormitories and funding the building of a second centre for girls in Ongole.
The £30,000 will be used to buy a new mini- bus, help complete the building of the Ongole Centre to take in blind children and enable 30 more youngsters to stay at the centres for two years.
Hundreds of women entered the Clarins Most Dynamisante Woman of the Year Award 2002 and Miss Davis was picked from eight selected finalists.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article