Blind Baker Penny Melville-Brown receives News Year Honour

Penny has dedicated her adult life to fundraising and offering help to people who have got sight loss or have gone completely blind. Also known as the Blind Baker, Penny lost her sight when she was in the Royal Navy and has since been trying to help people who have experienced the same thing. She has raised thousands of pounds for sight loss charities and never fails to offer a helping hand.

She said: ‘I am a bit taken aback, what an amazing honour, it is really thrilling.

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‘I think the big motivation for me is that having lost my sight when I was serving in the Royal Navy, finding out how difficult it was to adapt to go from my career to a completely different lifestyle. I have probably spent all of my life since then trying to help other people.’