A COMMUNITY champion has been honoured with a rare award given to Rotary Club members who go above and beyond the call of duty.

Peter James-Robinson was presented with the Paul Harris Fellowship, the highest award given to Rotarians, during the Radcliffe club's 82nd birthday charter night at Radcliffe Civic Suite.

The 67-year-old is well known for his charity work throughout the town, raising thousands of pounds for groups including Macmillan Nurses, Marie Curie, Samaritans, and Brain Tumour Research.

He has dedicated much of his life to helping good causes since an operation to remove a brain lesion almost 20 years left him paralysed on one side of his body and confined to a wheelchair.

Mr James-Robinson said: "I'm over the moon with this award because they don't give very many of them away. It's the top award for Rotary for people who do good deeds outside the club.

"When Gillian Stainthorpe, Radcliffe Rotary Club president, got up and announced they would be giving out a Paul Harris Fellowship, I didn't think it would be for me, but it was a lovely surprise.

"When there's anything going on in the community I'm usually asked to be involved in one way or another, and I try to help as much as I can.

"I was taken very ill 19 years ago but when I got out of hospital I asked myself what I was going to do with my life. I wasn't about to sit around watching TV all day like they expected me to.

"I believe I'm still here for a reason. The man upstairs has a job for me in this world and I haven't done it yet."

As well as holding a number of posts in the Rotary movement, he is co-chairman of Castle Knights sport group, vice-chairman of the North Manchester Scouts, and an ambassador of the Radcliffe Carnival.

A past president of the Radcliffe Probus Club and a volunteer at Manchester charity the Gaddum Centre, Mr James-Robinson was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2012 for his charity and voluntary work in the community.