A SPECIAL needs co-ordinator from Burnley who helped transform the lives of people in Lancashire for years to come had been honoured at Preston's County Hall.

Mother-of-three Carole Wolstenholme, who works at Burnley's Central Library, was invited to the home of Lancashire County Council for a party to celebrate her achievement in winning the 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 to establish the 15 SMILE (Social Inclusion Motivation Information Literacy and Effective Partnerships) centres which are now up and running in libraries all over Lancashire.

They were aimed at providing reader development activities for children or young people with learning difficulties and their families

Carole, whose 14-year-old son suffers from down 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 claims she has plenty of groundbreaking ideas stored-up her sleeve for the future.

Carole, who lives with her husband Patrick and children Lara, 19, Tasha, 11, and 14-year-old Simon said: "The initial idea for these 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."