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BBC Radio Cumbria's Val Armstrong given Carlisle freedom

BBC Val holds a green tube containing her honourBBC
Val Armstrong has worked in radio since she was 17

A BBC radio presenter who has raised awareness about cancer has been awarded the freedom of Carlisle.

Val Armstrong is only the third woman to receive the Carlisle Council award.

Ms Armstrong has raised funds and awareness for Macmillan Cancer Support as well as presenting on BBC Radio Cumbria for more than 40 years.

She said the award was for those who had supported her, adding the last time she went to Carlisle's Civic Centre was to pay a parking fine.

The new honorary freewoman of Carlisle told BBC Radio Cumbria: "It's absolutely amazing.

"Things like this don't happen to normal people and I am quite a normal person."

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Ms Armstrong began working in radio at the age of 17 and was named Cumbria's Woman of the Year in 2011 a year after being diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time.

She said she "just got on" with things but it was "just wonderful someone somewhere has felt they want to give me this amazing honour".

Val and four men in ceremonial robes
Val Armstrong received the honour from Carlisle mayor Mike Mitchelson

She said she did not think there were any "perks" with her new title apart from the "knowledge of knowing people are aware of what you've done and hopefully at some point you have made a difference".

Carlisle city councillor Lisa Brown said Ms Armstrong was the third woman to receive the freedom of the city since the award's creation in 1885, adding the presenter was "an inspirational woman who has given so much back to others".

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Also receiving the honour alongside Ms Armstrong were former city mayor John Collier and the Rev Keith Teasdale, the former Vicar of St Cuthbert's and St Aidan's Churches in Carlisle.

Previous Freemen of the City include King Charles III and Woodrow Wilson, the 28th US president, whose mother was born in Carlisle.

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