A 91-year-old woman has been recognised for her 32 years of service at a charity shop in Wallingford.

Ivy Blake, who started work at Cancer Research UK in Market Place in 1991, was presented the Jackie Lacey Award for Fundraising Volunteer of the Year at the charity's national awards.

The award, which was only given to three people this year, recognises individuals who have shown understanding, loyalty, and dedication over the course of many years.

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Ms Blake was in the shop – where she works three days a week – when she was told she had won.

She said: “ I had no idea. I was a little bit taken back. I was very proud to have been recognised but I didn’t want to show it.”

Ms Blake said age didn’t matter and that working in the shop allowed her to chat with customers.

She was born in Crowmarsh in 1932 and remembers growing up during the Second World War.

Her father fought at Dunkirk and her mother took in evacuees for a short period of time.

Rationing was still in place when she married her husband Bill in 1953 after meeting at Wallingford Fair. The couple moved to Everton Road where Ms Blake still lives today.

In 1991, on a walk into the town centre, she decided to ask for a job at the charity shop – which was then known as Imperial Cancer – on the first day it opened.

“I went down to town and thought, ‘no, that’s it. I’ve made up my mind I’m going to do something,” she said.

“I went in and asked for a job. I don’t know what I said but I must have been alright because they took me on straight away and I’ve been there ever since.

“There were no managers in those days like there is now. Everything was volunteer based. We did all our own pricing and cashing up of money in those days.”

In 2014, Ms Blake suffered a heart attack, but was back at work within three weeks. She said, “I don’t give in.”

“I don’t think age really matters," she added. "You are what you are. I know that people are amazed at what I do. They say, ‘I couldn’t do what you do.’

“It helps to keep working when you get older. I wouldn’t know what to do otherwise. I couldn’t sit and watch that silly box all day long.”

When asked whether she planned to stop working, Ms Blake said: “I know – that’s the question.

"I’m thinking about cutting one afternoon away at the moment, but I still want to keep going."