A Seaton woman has been awarded the British Empire Medal for her role in securing the future of Workington's only museum.

Pat Hall, 76, was instrumental in making sure the Helena Thompson Museum remained opened in 2003, when volunteers took over the running of the facility from Allerdale council.

Pat said: "I'm totally stunned and flattered. There's an awful lot of people doing an awful lot of work, you think, why me?
"I'm over the moon and I'm thrilled.

"With a lot of volunteers doing a lot of work we've manage to make the museum viable and now it's safe. It's got 15,000 people a year going through its doors and there's about 40 volunteers doing various jobs."

Pat was tasked with the role of managing the museum until Tricia Poole took over in 2014.

She added: "I'm proud of the people who worked with me, I've been so fortunate to work with a team of people who are all still friends.

"You've got to have a team to be able to do something like this and the enthusiasm just rubs off, I couldn't have done it without them.

"I still do outreach work with the museum, going around the county and giving talks about heritage."

Pat, who has been a volunteer in the community for over 40 years, will attend one of Queen's garden parties at Buckingham Palace next year.

She said: "It's unbelievable that I've been given this honour, I keep looking at the letter.

"We hoped to get in this position where the museum is so much part of the town and it's thanks to all the volunteers and the people who supported us in many ways, such as Allerdale and Workington Town Council that we are where we are.

"The biggest reward for me is to see the museum thriving, that is the happiest bit about it."