A FORMER youth worker who campaigns tirelessly to improve her village has been honoured for her efforts.

The Chairman’s Medal, the highest honour that Durham County Council can award to individuals and organisations for outstanding voluntary contribution to County Durham, was presented to Joyce Unsworth of Thornley.

County council chairman Councillor John Lethbridge, presented the award to Mrs Unsworth at a ceremony in County Hall, where he praised her enthusiasm and determination.

Mrs Unsworth said: “I’m very honoured to be presented with the Chairman’s Medal. I feel appreciated and I am very proud.”

The mother-of-five and grandmother as lived her whole life in Thornley, a village which was greatly affected by the closure of its colliery in 1970.

She helped form the New Thornley Partnership, a group of volunteers who came together to revive the village, working to regenerate the area and provide its community with a sense of pride.

Working tirelessly to attract money to develop the area, she has successfully secured funding for two new play areas for Thornley and the first Home Zone safe play area in County Durham. In her drive to improve the area, she travelled to Wales’ Rhonda Valley to learn how its former mining villages had been revitalised.

Mrs Unsworth encourages Thornley residents to remember and honour their war heroes, and recently played a leading role in local celebrations for the WW1 centenary.

After years of fundraising and campaigning by a team of volunteers, led by her , a new community centre opened in Thornley in 2014 and as chair of the parish council she continues to identify and apply for funding opportunities to improve facilities.

Mrs Unsworth studied for a degree in youth and community work as a mature student. In March She retired from her job as a county council youth worker helping young people across east Durham to find work.

Being retired has given Mrs Unsworth Joyce more time to spend on her new Civic Pride project, Pride in Thornley.