The former head of Torr Works Quarry near East Cranmore will be rewarded for her charity work when she attends the Beacon Fellowship Awards in London next month.

Retired businesswoman Angela Yeoman has been nominated as highly commended for her extensive and long-running involvement with charitable organisations throughout Somerset.

The Beacon awards celebrate "individuals who have made exceptional contributions to charitable causes or to organisations that benefit the public", and are the only awards for philanthropy in the United Kingdom.

Mrs Yeoman chaired the Somerset Community Foundation for seven years, since its establishment in 2002 until 2009.

The foundation directs grants to local charities and voluntary organisations, "strengthening local communities, creating opportunities and tackling issues of disadvantage and exclusion".

Under her chairmanship the foundation distributed more than £2.2 million in grants to over 500 projects run by local charities and voluntary organisations. The foundation also started an endowment fund in 2006, which by the time Mrs Yeoman retired, was worth nearly £1 million. The foundation now manages over 25 funds on behalf of local families, companies and trusts, as well as administering the Government's Grassroots Grants programme.

Justin Sargent, director of Somerset Community Foundation said: "I am very pleased that Angela has been recognised for her considerable contribution to local communities in Somerset, and in particular for the support and leadership she brought to the foundation.

"It was her vision, ambition but above all her concern for those less well-off in Somerset that has enabled us to achieve so much in such a short amount of time."