TWO women from the region have been recognised for being among Britain's best single mums.

Kim McKay, of Sowerby, North Yorkshire, and Joanne Thompson, from Middlesbrough, were among ten regional winners in That's Life magazine's Single Mum of the Year 2004 competition, held at London's Savoy Hotel.

Ms Thompson, 25, split from her husband, who was her childhood sweetheart, when her first child was just seven months old and she was six months' pregnant with the second.

Ms McKay, 42, has two daughters, and suffers from an illness which leaves her in constant, burning pain.

The pair won praise from judges for the way they had coped with being single mums and the added pressures they faced.

The overall winner was 19-year-old Annmarie Fraser, from Aberdeen, who was homeless and pregnant at 16, but turned her life around, gaining A grades in her Scottish Higher examinations and helping to set up a project which helps young homeless people.

Father-of-three Lee Grindley, 37, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, was named Single Dad of the Year at the same ceremony.

He has been looking after his three children single-handedly since the death of his wife and childhood sweetheart Jayne three years ago from cancer.