A LITTLE girl who knows from family experience how important it is to care for others has received a special award.

Imogen Stevens, six, was named the first ever Market Lavington Young Person Of The Year for her fantastic community spirit and presented with £50 and a certificate.

Imogen, who lives in the village and is a pupil of St Barnabas Primary, was nominated by neighbour Sheila Chapman after the little girl called in every morning to see if she was alright after her husband Harry had to spend several weeks in hospital.

The girl's mum Chloe said she was not at all surprised by her daughter's kindness. She suffers from multiple sclerosis and said her daughter did everything she could to make her life easier.

She said: "Imogen has grown up helping me and knows exactly how and where to place things so I can get them more easily.

"She is a really fantastic, caring child."

She said the presentation which came at an event in community hall was a complete surprise to Imogen. Mrs Stevens said: "She was delighted. She had no idea she was going to get the award. She really deserved it. It was her own idea to go and visit Sheila every day. She just wanted to make sure she was ok. She is that sort of child."

The award was handed over by vicar the Rev Gary Gotham. He said: "The winner was decided by nominations by village residents. Several young people had been nominated, but Imogen was a landslide winner.

"One nominator, who was a neighbour, had described how Imogen had called by every morning before school, to see if she was OK when her husband was in hospital for several weeks. Young people are too often portrayed negatively, so it's very good to recognise the very positive reality shown by Imogen."

Parish council chairman Colin Osborn said the villlage had successfully run an annual Community Minded Person of the Year award for several years but this year St. Arbucks Community Cafe had sponsored an additional category for nominees aged under 18. He said: "It was a credit to Market Lavington village that so many people helped each other out, which makes it a wonderful place to live."