A DEDICATED member of a York support group has been awarded a posthumous award for his efforts.

The family of Alan Clark, who died aged 60 on December 6, 2006, were presented with the honour by the British Lung Foundation.

It marked his four-and-a-half years' work with Breathe Easy York - a support group charity for people suffering with breathing difficulties.

He was secretary of the group when he died, after being diagnosed seven years ago with chronic lung disease.

His wife, Mary, 57, a nurse at York Hospital, who accepted the award with her sons Jonathan, 32, and James, 30, said: "I was very touched that they wanted to do it.

"I found it really quite emotional and my two boys were very proud."

Alan was brought up in Strensall, became a master builder and built a home for his family in Southfields Road.

He married Mary in 1970 at the Methodist Church, in Cemetery Road, and they had two sons.

As his illness took hold, he was forced to retire from the building trade and took up taxi driving instead.

But later he had to give up that as well, and he and Mary moved from their family home to a bungalow in Barley Rise, in Strensall, because of his illness.

Mary said: "When he had to retire because of ill-health he wanted something else and joining the group was really the best thing he ever did.

"It was the comradeship and being able to feel useful again because when he had to stop working he was just so low and felt his life was over."

The family hopes to donate a piece of equipment to York Hospital's Ward 34 in his memory.

David Hardy sits on Breathe Easy's committee, and joined the group with Alan after meeting him at a treatment session.

He said: "He did an awful lot to keep Breathe Easy going after the previous chairman and secretary left.

"He took over the mantle and kept it up, and we have built the membership up since then.

"He was really highly-regarded. There was nobody who had a bad word for him at all. He got on with everybody.

"We helped each other come to terms with the illness and this is what the group is all about."