A nurse who has worked tirelessly to raise funds to run a home from home at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, where the families of sick children can stay, has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours.

Patsy Glazebrook, who lives in Wendens Ambo, has been vice president of The Sick Children’s Trust in Cambridgeshire since it began in 2000.

She leads a team of helpers which has raised £570,000 over the years for Acorn House, at the Cambridge hospital, with events such as lunches and talks by celebrities including actor Michael Crawford, who is the president of the trust, Barry Norman, Ann Widdecombe, Mary and Jeffrey Archer and authors Victoria Hislop and Sandra Howard.

Acorn House, where up to 15 families can stay a night, helps 750 families every year, who stay there free of charge. It costs £68,000 a year to run and is funded solely by voluntary donations and charitable trusts.

Three years ago, a second house was opened at Addenbrooke’s. Chestnut House is for the families of newborn babies being treated in the neo-natal intensive care unit.

Mrs Glazebrook, 67, who qualified as a midwife and paediatric nurse in the 1960s and 1970s and now works as a nurse at Newnham College, Cambridge, heads a voluntary team organising 30 events a year.

In February, Christine Lee, the sister of the late Jennifer Worth who wrote Call the Midwife, on which the BBC series is based, will speak at a lunch at Madingley Hall in Cambridge.

Christine will talk about her own book The Midwife’s Sister, about the two girls growing up.

Mrs Glazebrook was a midwife at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in West London and at Mill Road Hospital in Cambridge, which preceded the Rosie Maternity Unit at Addenbrooke’s.

She told the Reporter: “When I was nursing in the 1960s and 1970s, parents were lucky to get a chair by their child’s bed. Visiting hours were limited and you can imagine the anxiety that caused the child. Acorn House is for the families of children from Essex and Norfolk and Suffolk who are treated at Addenbrooke’s because they need specialised treatment they couldn’t get in a district hospital. All the money we raise is used locally.”

Patsy received a letter three weeks ago telling her she had been honoured. She said: “I was very surprised and delighted. I’ve no idea who nominated me but it’s very lovely.”

Mrs Glazebrook is also a rotary club member, she is on the Lady Taverners Fundraising Committee and is an assistant county organiser for the National Garden Scheme, which raises money for charities and is the biggest national donator to Macmillan.

Anyone interested in seeing the Sick Children’s Trust fundraising programme for 2016 can call 01799 541180.