A Maida Vale charity has celebrated picking up a prestigous local award and is now looking forward to “making even more of an impact” over the next 12 months.

Harrow Road's Tell It! Parents Network picked up an going recognising its extraodinary "voluntary contribution to the borough" at the annual My Westminster awards.

Tell It's project director Angela Singhate told the Wood&Vale she was delighted with the recognition for the team of part-time staff and volunteers.

She said: "I think it's incredible to be recognised for what we've done with a very small team.

"We've been a year at our new premises and we've really made a success of it."

She explained the award would be a "huge boost" for its local profile, which she said was mostly dependent on word-of-mouth. "It all helps," she said.

"We get so many people coming to our English classes or drop-ins just after hearing from someone else.

"At the drop-ins so much of it is about helping each other, and people seeing that what they go through isn't unusual."

The charity works to make parenting easier - particularly once the provision that does exist when one has small children peters out as kids grow up.

She said: "It's not so bad when they're young, but when you get to secondary school there really isn't much, and that can be a really challenging time.

"We offer classes - things like English lessons - but it's also about the community and peer support people can find."

The charity, whose ethos is based on the proverb "it takes a village to raise a child", runs events weekly and staff spend much of their time applying for financial support to run trips for families.

Angela added: "The one sad thing this year was we were unable to run a trip to the seaside. In the past people talk about how much of a difference it makes.

"One woman, with three kids, was so pleased - she had never been to the sea."

Recognising the award winners, Westminster Council's community lead Cllr Iain Bott, said: "These awards recognise the people in our community whose selfless work makes the borough a better place."

See tellitparentsnetwork.co.uk to find out more.