A MOTHER from Cirencester, whose son has a rare heart condition, has been named as Gloucestershire’s Volunteer of the Year for the second year running.

Gill Mackellar was nominated for the British Heart Foundation award by nine different people for raising more than £8,000 for the charity in two years.

Gill said that there were a lot of other volunteers who had done amazing things over the year but it was still nice to be recognised.

She said “I was just really chuffed to have won. It’s not the reason I do it for though, when I started I didn’t even know that the charity ran something like this.”

Her son James was diagnosed with Wolfe Parkinson White Syndrome as a teenager – the condition causes his heart to beat too quickly and sometimes irregularly.

Gill, who juggles her volunteering time between working at Cirencester Primary School and North Cerney Primary School, has been fundraising on behalf of the British Heart Foundation for more than two years.

In that time she has held various events in and around Cirencester but has also trekked up the Peruvian mountain Machu Picchu in April 2012.

Gill is also responsible for organising the Bows and Toes Day at primary schools in Cirencester, North Cerney and Down Ampney on Friday, February 7.

The day invites pupils and parents to wear something wacky and red on either their heads or their feet, or both.

She said: “It’s really interesting when the children really get into the spirit. I use the term ‘interesting’ loosely.”

For more information, visit www.rampupthered.org.uk.