A WEST Devon woman has won a prestigious regional award for netball volunteers in the South West. Karen Jones, from Horrabridge, has been involved with netball for more than 30 years, and recently collected the Muriel McNally Award for 'outstanding contribution to the development of netball at grassroots level for over 10 years or more'.

Karen has been involved in the Plymouth League for many years and has held various roles within the league and with the West Devon County Netball Association, of which she is currently chair.

In 2010, she was appointed the chair of Netball South West. As an A award umpire, Karen has been involved at a national league level for 15 years, stepping down recently to concentrate on supporting local talent but she still umpires in the regional league, local league and for Devon's schools and colleges.

She has secured funding to enable the local league to develop and roll out a young volunteer programme that has been very successful.

Karen will now represent the region at the National Ceremony in Leicester on September 17.