A woman whose cookery school has helped more than 65,000 children has won the national Halifax Giving Extra Award.

Fiona Hamilton-Fairley, a trained Cordon Bleu chef, reaped the prize for setting up food charity The Kids’ Cookery School, in Gunnersbury Lane, Acton, 15 years ago to teach children how to cook fresh delicious food from scratch and encourage healthy eating.

The charity has worked with young people and families across London, many of whom may have severe physical and learning disabilities, behavioural problems or have been excluded from mainstream education.

Hamilton-Fairley was selected as the national winner having been one of the 67 local winners who were recognised for going the extra mile for people in their community.

She will be awarded vouchers worth £2,500 and a further £2,500 donation to the charity of her choice.

Ms Hamilton-Fairley said: “I was shocked to have won a local Halifax Giving Extra Award, so am thrilled to find out I won the national prize. It is very rare that I am speechless, but when I was told in front of a class of five-seven year olds, with flour on our faces and sticky hands the feeling was of huge pride.

"Thank you so much for this award. It will help the charity to continue the work we deliver, and even more help to roll out ‘KCS on Wheels’ all over the country so that more children get the opportunity to learn this vital life skill and have fun along the way."

David Nicholson, Director, Halifax Community Bank, said: “Through our Helping Britain Prosper Plan we are committed to bringing communities closer together to help them thrive, and we are able to further deliver upon this commitment through people like Fiona."

This year’s Halifax Giving Extra Awards, in association with Capital FM and Heart FM, were launched in October 2013 to celebrate the unsung heroes who are giving something back in their communities.