THE busiest bee at Callington's Honey Fair this week was surprised in her hive of activity by a bunch of flowers.

Brenda Wood, secretary of the Lions Club which organises the annual event, was given the bouquet from Tesco as thanks for her years of service to the town and the Lions.

Interrupted in serving cream teas, Brenda said: 'I'm a bit shocked really! For the Honey Fair it has all been a team effort — I've dealt with 87 bookings and all the pitches and the catering side, but all with the help of others. I've been doing the catering for a few years now.'

Andy Burnard, Lions president who arranged the presentation, said: 'As president I am delighted to nominate Brenda for this award. She works many hundreds of hours for our town and without Brenda this year's Honey Fair would not have happened.'

Brenda has been involved with the Lions both on the local and national level for more than 15 years and was the Lions' first female district governor for the South West. As well as working for the Callington branch, she recently helped to organise an international convention of Lions in Sydney, Australia — all by email.

When she retired from her job as a company secretary ten years ago, she and her husband John moved to Somerset to be closer to their children, but the couple still commute back to Cornwall every week to look after her mother and help out with the Lions.

Andy added: 'Brenda is in a league of her own — the workload she put in for this Honey Fair has been simply amazing and most of that work was done online from Wincanton! Her heart is still here in Callington and I am proud to work alongside her.'

Callington deputy Portreeve and Mayor Phil Harriman, said: 'Brenda has worked tirelessly for many weeks in preparation for this excellent community event for or town and we also recognised that she provides 100 percent commitment via the Lions Club of Callington to help our town.

'We are delighted to have this opportunity to say thank you.'