A trio of stalwarts and a local attraction have been singled out for praise by a grateful Stalham Town Council.

Chairman Duncan Edmonds thanked the three women and the volunteers from the Stalham Firehouse Museum for their voluntary efforts when he presented them with civic award certificates at this month's town council meeting.

Jenny Wald is a volunteer driver for dial-a-ride and with Stalham's Sight group, for people with a visual impairment.

She also talks to schools and other groups about the work of the children's hospice at Quidenham, collects for charities, and recycles plastic bottle tops which would otherwise go to landfill.

Shirley Meredith organises and delivers meals on wheels, to the homes of elderly and vulnerable people, with the Women's Royal Volunteer Service. She has baked numerous cakes and been involved with other fund-raising for the church, and made refreshments for the town hall film club.

Pat Beecroft is a Stalham in Bloom enthusiast, growing, planting and maintaining the flower bed at Rivermead, opposite the police station.

She has worked tirelessly cleaning and helping to run a weekly summer stall at St March Church, and used to be a key helper with the Stalham Cubs group.

Stalham's Firehouse Museum, which dates from 1833, was restored and re-opened in 2002 but had been neglected in more recent years until a group of volunteers took it under their wings.

The High Street attraction, believed to be the second oldest firehouse in the country, is now open to the public six days a week from the week before Easter until September.

It stands in the grounds of St Mary's Parish Church, and was set up because people were increasingly finding that neither insurance nor the state brigade provided adequate fire cover.