KINGSBRIDGE Town Council have named Phyllis Angliss as Citizen of the Year 2016 for all her work in the community.

Phyllis is the 13th person to receive the Citizen of the Year award, which Kingsbridge Town Council say recognises the ‘outstanding contribution of the work of people in the local community’.

Phyllis said she was ‘amazed and honoured’ to receive the accolade, but humbly said she ‘didn’t know why’ she had been chosen, but that she was proud to join a ‘group of like-minded volunteers’ – ‘I’m in good company’ she said.

During her earlier years, Phyllis was engaged in various business activities including working for the BBC and was the chief technician in the Ophthalmic Department of City University, London.

She has been an active participant in the Scientific Exploration Society and her varied contributions were recognised when she was made an Honorary Life Vice President along with other notable people such as Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

During this time she went on three expeditions to Nepal where on one expedition the team were trying to DNA test an elephant species to see if it was a close relative of the extinct mammoth.

On another, herself, a cameraman and a sound engineer were travelling on an elephant when they were charged by a rhino and another occasion when she was charged by a young elephant.

Read more in the Kingsbridge & Salcombe Gazette