Kenilworth woman thanked for service at Downing Street event

The outing happened after Janet Turner recently received a surprise message.

She said: “All of sudden I got this invitation out of the blue that the Prime Minister wanted to invite me to Downing Street.

“I looked at it, and at first I thought it was a joke.”

Theresa May thanked Janet and several dozen other people for their roles as volunteers in raising awareness about diabetes.

Janet added: “I run the South Warwickshire support group for Diabetes UK. You just do the work, but when someone wants to say thank you it’s nice.”

Janet, who like the Prime Minister has diabetes, organises guest speakers and is actively involved in fundraising with the group, which meets on the first Wednesday of each month (excluding January, July and August) at Warwick Hospital.

She added: “They’re doing a lot of research at the moment into various aspects of diabetes.”

Someone is diagnosed with diabetes every two minutes. In England, four million people and one in 15 have the condition.

Janet, who serves as chair of the group, said: “It was an experience to go, and it was nice to meet other people who work in diabetes.”