A FORMER Crediton resident has been recognised with the award of an MBE in the New Year 2019 Honours List.

Mrs Ruth Mary Saltmarsh, formerly of Searle Street, Crediton, receives the award for services to the community in Exeter.

For the last 18 years, she has been Trustee of the Atkinson Unit in Exeter, a secure unit for young offenders.

She supports the work of the Exeter Community Initiatives (ECI), which addresses the need in the city and assisting those most vulnerable.

Its forerunner, the Palace Gate Project, developed a number of separate projects to help homeless people in Exeter, one of which was St Petrock’s, the Board of which she continues to chair.

She now works on Northbrook Trust, a charity which makes grants to projects and bodies providing opportunities to children and young people who are, or have been, in care.

She chairs the Benefits Committee and has been a trustee on that body for many years.