A COMMUNITY champion has been honoured for her work with Neighbourhood Watch for the second time.

Dorothy Bowman, from Newton Aycliffe, has been highly commended in the national Neighbourhood Watch awards for a successive year.

Mrs Bowman, also the town's joint citizen of the year, was the founder of the Dales Neighbourhood Watch and has set up a junior group which now has 215 members.

She has also been instrumental in establishing Neighbourhood Watch groups in the Agnews, Burndale and Horndale areas of the town.

Mrs Bowman said: "I'm very very pleased and honoured to think that I'm the only person in the North-East to get the award this year.

"The junior Neighbourhood Watch is just getting off the ground. They're going to be involved in doing things for their own neighbourhoods, keeping an eye out for local people and litter picking and we're going to run competitions for them throughout the year."

The youngsters also attend a junior disco every Friday night in the town's Southerne Club.

This year's awards, sponsored by BT Home Monitoring, recognise those people who make an outstanding contribution to the community.

Sarah Norman, Neighbourhood Watch liaison officer for Durham Police, said: "Dorothy is 100 per cent committed to improving the area in which she lives.

"Most residents in the area know Dorothy and she has provided an invaluable link between the police and the community. She's very dedicated to neighbourhood watch and I believe the perfect candidate for an award."

One of the new initiatives Mrs Bowman is involved in is the Aycliffe Crimewatch Executive, which aims to keep residents informed about police matters.

Anyone interested in joining the group, or in helping to run the junior discos, is asked to contact Mrs Bowman on (01325) 308094.