A MUCH-LOVED lady who has dedicated almost 30 years to campaigning for elderly people has been nominated for the Tele’s Community Champion Awards.
Nell McFadden MBE, who recently marked her 90th birthday, is best known as the face of Inverclyde Elderly Forum.
She is also active on a number of committees and is honorary president of the Your Voice local community care forum.
Nell says she’s ‘over the moon’ to be nominated.
She told the Tele: “I cannot say how pleased I am that I have been put forward for this award by the community.
“I don’t know what to say, it is really touching.”
The veteran campaigner has been nominated by Stephen Harrison of Your Voice.
Nell said: “I enjoy what I do. I got involved and set up the Elderly Forum first of all, got the bit between my teeth, then I was thrown in at the deep end.”
Nell was a young mum struggling with depression when a trip to her GP and a notice in the Telegraph sparked her interest in doing something for the wider community. 
Her passion to give older people a voice has taken her all over the country and she’s campaigned in London, Blackpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow and many other towns, as well as in Holland.
Nell’s dedication has already been recognised many times over with a string of awards.
She said the ‘icing on the cake’ was the MBE she received from the Her Majesty the Queen in Buckingham Palace in 2002.
Nell was also a guest of Tony and Cherie Blair at No. 10 Downing Street during a reception for the International Year of Older People.
But the Gourock’s senior citizen’s heart is firmly in Inverclyde.
She said: “I was just an ordinary wee woman, married with children when I started to suffer depression.
“I went to the doctor and started crying my eyes out and asked him to help me.
“He told me ‘I’ll give you a tablet to tide you over but I want you to go out and join the community to the best of your ability’.”
Nell never looked back and she still serves with Care and Repair, the Asthmatic Caring Group, Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, the NHS , local social care and health partnership and five national participatory committees.
She has also been honoured by the council, the Rotary Club of Greenock and is the area’s designated champion for the elderly.
The great-grandmother has had her tough times too. Three years ago she was struck down with a life-threatening condition and medics had to race against the clock to diagnose and treat the illness.
Thankfully Nell survived, but the scare forced her to slow down, and a fall last November and a chest infection, which resulted in a hospital stay at Christmas, have also set her back.
Nell, a widow, had four children but lost her eldest John two years ago.
Her family recently helped her celebrate her special birthday at the Tontine Hotel and she is looking to continue her good work in the community.
Nell said: “I’m determined to keep going.
“I’m enjoying life to the full because I am so involved and I’m looking forward to many more years of community involvement.”
Nominate today at newsquestscotlandevents.com/events/greenockcommchamp