PATIENTS in hospital will always benefit from seeing a friendly face.

Pauline Wilkinson has been acting as that friendly face for the past 31 years.

Pauline, 76, from Lexden, is a proud volunteer for the The Colchester League of Hospital & Community Friends.

The volunteer group held an awards ceremony recently, to thank members who have dedicated their time at the hospital for free.

Mrs Wilkinson got a special mention for being one of the longest-serving members.

She said: "I must have started in 1985, I went with a friend of mine to Colchester General Hospital to see someone who was a patient there.

"We bought a cup of tea from the little shop, we never knew it was there.

"I said to my friend I wouldn't mind trying something like this, we saw the manager at the time and he said he needed someone to take tea trolleys around the wards at Severalls Hospital."

The hospital itself is now a distant memory, but Pauline recalls the eight years she spent there like it was yesterday.

She said: "There was a couple of medical wards at Severalls, we would go every Tuesday.

"A couple of ladies in the Colchester General Hospital shop were leaving, so we were asked to go over to the shop."

She moved over to Colchester General Hospital in the early nineties, and said things were very different.

She said: "We used to have china cups and plates which we had to wash up by hand, it was ever so different.

"Eventually they stopped getting volunteers and took on paid staff. Some people left because of it but I carried on.

"I can understand why they took on paid staff as people want to earn money.

"We used to make the tea and coffee by hand but now we have machines, we also used to serve ice-cream."

Since it was founded in 1954 The Colchester League of Hospital and Community Friends has been fulfilling its charitable work.

Over the years, as the hospital facilities have changed, their role has been adapted to fit in.

The most visible work is in the hospital shops and trolley rounds at Colchester General Hospital, and the tea bar at Essex County Hospital and cafe at the Primary Care Centre in Colchester.

Pauline said: "I thoroughly enjoy it, I have never not wanted to go.

"We have had some changes and people have moved on, but they are nice ladies and we get on well.

"I hate having a day off, I start to feel withdrawn."

It is not just patients who are grateful for the service, hospital staff and even those dropping people off at the hospital love a chat with the ladies.

Pauline, who used to be a midday assistant at a school, said: "We now have sausage rolls and pies in a cabinet we can heat up, we never used to have that.

"People say the pies are the best around, even the bus drivers come in and get them.

"I think the patients really appreciate it, we do quite a lot of little things to help, just to get them through until their families can be there."

Pauline's husband, Peter, died five years ago, and she benefits from the company of others every Tuesday.

She said: "Because I am a widow it's nice if you are on your own, you can meet new people and they are all lovely.

"The time just goes so quickly, it's always a happy morning.

"It doesn't feel like 30 years, everyone always asks me if I'm still there."

To find out more about the League visit www.clhf.co.uk.