BETTY Bridgewater is well known in Bewdley for her commitment to the public good. What she is not yet well known for, though she fully intends to be very soon, is her new mission to support women suffering from breast cancer.

Two months ago, Mrs Bridgewater of Birch Tree Road found herself in Kidderminster General Hospital's cancer unit. It was a terrible day she will never forget but she benefited from "a wonderful one-stop service."

She was spared the agony of having to wait for the results of various tests over a period that could have stretched to weeks and wishes all cancer sufferers were treated with the same efficiency and kindness.

X-rays, blood tests, scans were all over in a day and so was the devastating news. She had cancer in both breasts.

Mrs Bridgewater, 68, chairman of Bewdley Town management forum and a stalwart supporter of regional and local Townswomens Guilds, is determined not only to carry on with her service to both organisations but also to become an on tap helper and comforter to other women.

She remembers vividly the horror she felt when a young nurse declared she had no knowledge of anyone else with cancer in both breasts.

"I thought I had had it. No one had ever survived it. I was later reassured by a specialist but I was also lucky to find through my daughter someone who had suffered from breast cancer I could talk to."

"I know how important it is to talk to someone who has gone through it too. I remember one woman in the hospital waiting room who just stared in front of her. She was terrified and unable to communicate this."

"Surgically it is not a big operation they tell you. But it is a massive psychological one."

Mrs Bridgewater, recovering well from a double mastectomy sees herself in the future as only a phone call away for other sufferers.

And she believes there are many. "After my operation I went to Marks & Spencer for advice from a lady there who is specially trained to help. I could not believe it when she said I was the third that morning!"

A strong believer in the therapeutic power of a sense of humour - "you have to get used to people peering at your chest!" - Mrs Bridgewater is looking forward to getting on with life in the Bewdley, especially helping to see through improvements in the town ranging from the new Christmas lights to tarmac being laid in a car park for the disabled.

She also hopes to be back in the saddle soon organising events as drama chairman of the West Midlands Federation of Townswomen's Guilds.

"What else is there to do but pick yourself up and get on with it!" she said.