A WOMAN who has collected several tons of donations for Woking Foodbank and cheered up the village during the pandemic has been voted Brookwood Person of the Year.

Trudi Fletcher was awarded the accolade in an initiative organised by Bentleys Garage in the village.

People who voted for her praised her annual Christmas-time campaign, when she takes a wheeled sleigh around the community to collect festive treats for the foodbank to distribute to needy families.

“I’m a little overwhelmed at getting the award, I have to say,” said Trudi, who also raises hundreds of pounds each year for the charity through an online appeal. “I had no idea I was getting it until I got a call from the garage to attend the presentation.”

Villagers who voted for her also mentioned the rainbow trail she set up around Brookwood soon after the start of the first coronavirus lockdown.

After seeing an inspiring rainbow drawing in the window of a house, she asked local people to send her similar pictures and soon received more than 50. Trudi laminated them and fixed them to lamp-posts along Connaught Road, raising the spirits of passers-by.

Bentleys Garage was inspired to run its contest in the village newsletter after staff members saw a woman picking up litter in the early morning.

“We saw her every day going up and down Connaught Road come rain or shine, before heading to work, and we thought what a lovely thing she was doing for the community,” said receptionist Sarah Dougherty.

“We asked the community to put forward nominations for Brookwood Person of the Year and Trudi had the most votes. She is a selfless person recognised not just around Brookwood but further afield, who thinks of everyone first before herself.”

As well as a trophy, Trudi was presented with £100 – which she is donating to Woking Foodbank.