MY enduring memory of Eira Williams, when she worked on this newspaper as a young reporter in the late 1970s, is of her setting off on a job from the car park of Berrow's House with a sizeable concrete bollard, which she had just knocked over, jammed beneath the front suspension of her Austin 1100.

Alerted by the noise and shower of metallic sparks, colleagues rushed out to stop her.

"You know, I didn't think it was going quite right," said an unconcerned Eira.

So when I heard recently that she'd been on Panorama and interviewed by Trevor McDonald on his Tonight programme, I figured it wasn't for her driving.

In fact, the journalist formerly known as Eira Williams is now famous for being someone and something else entirely.

As Liz Carnell, she is the driving force behind the national charity Bullying Online, which was set up in 1999 to combat bullying in schools.

Last year, more than half a million visitors logged on to its website and it has won a raft of awards, including the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain in 2005, the Big Issue Big Difference 2004, the BT e-Well Being 2003 and two wins in the National eCommerce Awards 2002 and 2003.

Our paths crossed again after all these years, when Liz posted a message on the Worcester News website last week commenting on the feature I had written about Mark Johnson, the Kidderminster drug addict and criminal who had straightened his life out and become an inspirational figure and friend of Prince Charles.

"Mark and I both won the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Award in 2005 and I didn't realise he was a local boy. Nobody can underestimate the effort he has put in to get where he is today. He really is a great lad and deserves every success," she wrote. Liz added that originally she came from Pershore, but was now living in North Yorkshire and was the director of Bullying Online.

The penny didn't drop until I contacted her.

"How are you these days?" she asked. Which was slightly scary, because, hard though I tried, I could never recall anyone by the name of Liz Carnell working here.

"Oh, you'll remember me as Eira Williams," she laughed. "When I came up north in the early 80s people seemed to have a problem spelling or pronouncing Eira, so I decided to use one of my other names instead. It was simpler."

In the process she had married Stuart Carnell, who worked on the Evening News as a stonehand. When his job disappeared following the arrival of new technology' in the newspaper industry, the couple decided to move north.

Liz joined the Yorkshire Evening Post, where she has been a sub-editor for the last 20 years.

But there aren't many sub-editors who also head national charities - unpaid, I should swiftly add - and make it on to prime time television.

So how come?

"It all started when our son John, who is now 25, was bullied at school in Harrogate," explained Liz. "He had dyslexia and used to be called names. John Carnell, can't spell' that sort of thing. Because he didn't have a Yorkshire accent he stood out and some of the other children picked on him. He had his property stolen, his books scribbled in, he was even hit in the face and had a tooth knocked out.

"Eventually it got so bad we took the LEA to court and received £6,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

"But the money wasn't important to us, it was the principal that some youngsters were suffering terrible problems at school.

"We believed the extensive research we had done for the legal action could be used to help others. We decided the most cost-effective way to get our message across to the maximum number of people was to use the internet. So in 1999 John and I founded Bullying Online."

The website - www.bullying.co.uk - is currently in its sixth incarnation, now a fully professional creation that draws 1,800 visitors a day. It gives advice, support and encouragement to anyone who is bullied and even tries to help the bullies themselves. Liz writes all the content as well as doing all the fund-raising and publicity. Last year, the site received 8,500 e-mails and she replied to each one personally.

In 2005 she took her campaign to Downing Street and effected a re-think in Government policy.

"They were adopting a No Blame' approach to school bullying," she said. "Making out it was not really the fault of the bully. But of course someone is to blame. You have to take responsibilty for your own actions. I think where we manage to succeed is that we take a very reasoned approach to everything we do. We are not banging a drum and making a noise all the time.

"My schooldays at Prince Henry's Grammar School in Evesham were happy. I know it won't be the same for everyone, but there is no reason some children should suffer."

Remembering her all those years ago, I never knew there was such an Iron Lady beneath the demure young reporter.

And they've moved the bollard, by the way.