A LEOMINSTER charity's unsung hero has been praised as an 'inspiration'.

Emma Tustin, a volunteer with ECHO, won the organisation £500 in the Lloyds Bank Foundations 2015 Charity Achievement Awards – which recognise the life-changing work done by the charities Lloyds support.

The 48-year-old, who has overcome personal tragedy and huge health problems, is an 'invaluable' member of ECHO’s team of volunteers, helping to run its Yam Jams sessions of music for people with complex disabilities.

Mrs Tustin has been a wheelchair user all her life and is mum to an 18-year-old daughter who has Down Syndrome.

In 2008 her husband died leaving her as a single parent. Then, in 2014, due to various health complications, she had to have both legs amputated.

Mrs Tustin has been an ECHO volunteer since 2006, apart from a short break when her husband was unwell and, after his death, ECHO’s operations manager paid her a visit.

Mrs Tustin said: "Just when I was finding life very hard and lonely, Maggie came to visit me, and she asked me if I would like to help out at Yam Jams in Hereford.

"I said I would give it a go, not really knowing whether I was ready to get back into the swing of things. I needn’t have worried. It felt like being home again."

ECHO said Mrs Tustin's volunteering is a mutually beneficial arrangement – she is dependable, cheerful, hard-working and at the heart of ECHO’s Yam Jams crew of volunteers.

ECHO’s chief officer, Fiona Ritchie, said: "Emma brings so much to our organisation. Not only does she do her job with calm efficiency, she provides a role model and inspiration to so many people.

"She is a true embodiment of our mission ‘to make a real difference to the lives of disabled people in Herefordshire, supporting them to be valued members of their community.’"