A SPECIAL needs co-ordinator from Burnley who has helped transform the lives of people in Lancashire had been honoured at County Hall.

Mother-of-three, Carole Wolstenholme, who works at Burnley's Central Library, was invited to the headquarters of Lancashire County Council for a party, to celebrate her achievement in winning a Public Finance National Civil Servant of the Year Award.

Carole, 42, of Queen's Road, was awarded the accolade in the social inclusion section and attended a glittering ceremony with public servants from all over the country at an exclusive hotel in Mayfair, London.

She won the top award for her part in helping establish the 15 SMILE (Social Inclusion Motivation Information Literacy and Effective Partnerships) centres which are running in libraries all over Lancashire.

They provide reader development activities for children or young people with learning difficulties and their families

Carole, whose 14-year-old son has Downs Syndrome and autism, still has the scrap of paper on which she scribbled the SMILE acronym 10 years ago when she came up with the idea. and she says she has plenty of groundbreaking ideas up her sleeve for the future.

Carole, who lives with husband Patrick and children Lara, 19, Tasha, 11, and 14-year-old Simon said: "The initial idea for the centres might have come from myself but all the hard work came from my colleagues.

"I was thrilled to win the award and I owe a big thanks to my family for all of their support when I was spending so much time on the project.

"It's also great for something so positive to come out of Burnley and to know that the centres will continue to develop and evolve and will help people for years to come.

"I have always known the potential of SMILE and I am sure it will go on and on and hopefully spread across other areas. My son uses the centre at Burnley. It was about ten years ago when I realised the area needed this kind of service.

"I worked with a lot of professionals and with children and staff at Tor View School in Rawtenstall to get feedback about the idea. It has been a lot of hard work because I am also doing a degree, work part-time and have a family to look after."

Her line manager, John Hodgkinson, who backed Carole all the way in her dream to create the centres, nominated her for the award.

He said: "Her achievements have been remarkable by any standards. It has been her determination and skill that has made her vision become reality."

Lancashire County Council chairman, County Councillor Vali Patel, who hosted the party in Carole's honour, said: "Carole has made a real difference to other people's lives. She is the kind of person who never stops working and thinking of others. The SMILE centres are wonderful."