TWO inspirational women who have dedicated their lives to helping others will be recognised in the New Year's Honours List.
Carly Jones, an autism activist, and Frances Woolaway, who is involved with the Rotary Club, have been selected for a gong.
Mrs Woolaway, of Winterbury Way, Caversham, is currently junior vice president of the Rotary Club of Reading Abbey and she will receive a British Empire Medal for services to The Ways and Means Trust.
The 58-year-old has been involved with the Trust for nearly two decades and helps dozens of vulnerable and disabled residents every week.
She was also an active member of the Caversham Traders Association and in 2013 she took on the role of chair of the Caversham Court Management Committee.
"I started with the Trust with the intention of being involved for a year and I have never left.
"It was something I got involved with after my father became ill and I just got a huge amount of satisfcation from helping others.
Frances with her husband Steve at a fundraising event
"Seeing people succeed and seeing them achieve things they did not think they could, that is what gets me out of bed in the morning. It is an amazing feeling."
An MBE awaits Miss Jones, who has used her own experience with autism to help others with the condition.
The 35-year-old writer has campaigned to raise awareness of female autism and she works closely with Autism Berkshire to help people tackle isolation.
She said: "I think isolation and loneliness also goes hand in hand with the fact a lot of disabled people find it hard to get into work and don't get the right support to find employment these days.
"I was talking to my mum the other day and I confessed to her that I am not scared of getting old.
"At least when I am old I will be in an old people's home and always surrounded by other people, so I will never be alone."
Carly Jones will be made an MBE
"I am definitely more proactive and I try and do a lot of voluntary work, but if I want to make friends I have to actively go out and find them."
The autism campaigner played a vital role in the creation of the international award-winning film, Epidemic of Knowledge, focusing on the under-diagnosis of autistic women.
She was the first British woman with autism to speak at UN Autism and she took part in a House of Lord's round table on disability.
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