TRIBUTES have been paid to a much-loved community champion.

Diana Robison B.E.M. wholeheartedly supported church activities for over 50 years in Haltwhistle, delivering the parish magazine and collecting for appeals for Christian Aid Week.

She was awarded a British Empire Medal in 2019 for her service to the community.

Diana spent a decade voluntarily visiting patients in Haltwhistle War Memorial Hospital each week, and had been a big supporter of the Haltwhistle Dementia Support Group for more than 40 years.

The eldest daughter of Marcy and Benny Robison, she was grew up in Haltwhistle before attending school in Wigton, Cumbria, aged 11.

Diana graduated from Durham University and began teaching Geography at Seaham before taking early retirement and returning to her native Haltwhistle.

Theatre, fine embroidery and walking were all passions of hers throughout her life and

She dedicated herself to an array of community groups and initiatives including the local nature club and Bardon Mill WI.

Diana played a key role as a member, then secretary, of the Friends of Greenholme care home group.

After the closure of the Haltwhistle facility in 2009 she lost no opportunity in petitioning for a replacement. The news that the town was to finally receive a care home after an 11 year hiatus was revealed days before she died.

Local community fund-raising was at the heart of Diana's hobbies and Haltwhistle town councillor, Coun. Margaret Forrest, said she was always looking out for what the town needed.

"Diana would go to Haltwhistle Hospital at least once a week with a bag of Jelly babies and everybody would get one," Coun. Forrest said.

"She was a stalwart of the church and churches together in the sense that she was always involved and willing to help out," said John Clark, of Haltwhistle Holy Cross Church.

Diana helped form the Haltwhistle Partnership, which to this day, serves as a local activist - lobbying for town infrastructure and investment, as well as delivering and driving projects of its own

An online fund-raiser to Holy Cross Church, Haltwhistle Hospital and the dementia group in Diana's memory has raised more than £1,000.

A private service will be held in Holy Cross Church on Tuesday.