A YOUNG childminder has won an award after saving a local playgroup from closure.

Joanne Middleton, from Hawes, has received the Yorkshire Dales Society's Ken Willson Award.

Miss Middleton, 22, will receive £500 in recognition of her commitment to the care and social well being of Dales' communities.

When asked to run a playgroup in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, the childminder found that the group did not have the correct paperwork demanded by Oftsed.

Miss Middleton got together all the necessary documents and the group was saved from closure.

She has now left the playgroup to run her own childminding business, looking after eight children aged between five months and nine years in her own home.

She said: "When I found out I had won I was in total shock.

"I'm very pleased. You don't often get someone in my line of work getting recognition like this."

Miss Middleton was nominated by her former boss, Ruth Annison, from the Ropemakers, in Hawes.

The panel of seven judges agreed that Miss Middleton was a clear winner, despite healthy competition for the award.

One of her customers said: "I chose Joanne because I trust my children with her 101 per cent.

"She finds lots of activities for every different age group. She takes time to spend with each child and they need this home-from-home when parents are working."

The award was set up in memory of Ken Willson, a former president of the Yorkshire Dales Society, who died in 2003 aged 90.

It is made annually to recognise outstanding achievement by people under 30 in the Dales.

The award will be presented at the Yorkshire Dales Society jubilee dinner, in Settle, on May 13.