A RETIRED couple who work tirelessly to make West Drayton a better, safer place have been named as Hillingdon’s Local Heroes for 2012.

Janet and David Ross, both 73, topped the Community Champion category, before being named the overall winners at the Hillingdon Local Heroes awards ceremony, held at Uxbridge College’s Hayes Community Campus, in Coldharbour Lane, Hayes, on Thursday last week.

The couple, who have lived in Ferrers Avenue, West Drayton, for nearly 50 years, co-ordinate the area’s Neighbourhood Watch scheme and are dedicated Street Champions, as well as being prominent members of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Town Centre Action Group, which aims to improve the area for residents and businesses.

For the past 10 years they have run The Pelican Club, a social group which arranges outings and lunches for blind and partially sighted people in the borough, on a voluntary basis.

Speaking after the ceremony, Mr Ross said: “We are just absolutely gobsmacked.

“Listening to all the other stories, we feel that we haven’t done anything special to deserve this.

“We are just cogs in a bigger machine, and there are lots of people in West Drayton and elsewhere doing what we do.

“Janet has always joined parent-teacher associations and things like that, and now we just do it together. We make a good team – she is the brains, and I am the pork.”

They are staunch opposers of a Third Runway at Heathrow, and have campaigned with the No Third Runway Action Group (NOTRAG).

Mr and Mrs Ross met while working in advertising in the 1960s, and will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary on June 8 next year.

Alan Hayes, Uxbridge Gazette news editor and one of the Local Heroes judges, said: “This year’s nominees were of an exceptionally high standard, and choosing a overall winner from them was a hard task for the judges.

“Janet and David stood out because of their long-standing commitment to improving their community through their activity with various local groups, and the voluntary work they do running a vital service for people with visual impairments, providing vulnerable, elderly people with a social lifeline.”

The awards are backed by Uxbridge College and the Gazette.