Annie Chapman, of Pulham St Mary, has raised £89,000 since 2004 with the annual Ladies Tractor Road Run, which she organises with the help of other tractor-mad friends.

At a ceremony at London's Café Royal on Friday, Mrs Chapman received Cancer Research UK's Flame of Hope Volunteer of the Year Award.

She said:"It was such a great honour to have won the award. I felt very humble."

Mrs Chapman explained she and her husband, John, had several vintage tractors and were members of the Old Ram Tractor Club at Tivetshall, as well as the David Brown Tractor Club.

The idea for the tractor run had come first, but it quickly became obvious it should be done to raise money for breast cancer research.

Mrs Chapman said: "Everybody knows somebody who has had it, has got it or has died from it. Breast cancer touches everyone.

"There are so many brave ladies who come on the tractor run. We have teenagers up to grannies taking part and from all walks of life – and some of them have or have had breast cancer and are very brave."

This year's Ladies' Tractor Road Run will be the fifth annual event and so far 94 tractor drivers have signed up, including Diss Express reporter Georgina Smith.

Many participants come dressed in pink with their vehicles decked in pink balloons and ribbons, making quite a spectacle as the convoy of vintage tractors winds its way through the lanes of South Norfolk.

Mrs Chapman said: "We had 50 tractors on our first run and raised £16,500 – it was quite a surprise as we had no idea how well it would go."

This year, she hopes the money raised will take the total from all five runs over the £100,000 mark.

For the next two weeks, she will be busy giving her tractor Rosie, also known as the Little Red Devil because of her 666 numberplate, a complete overhaul.

"She's in bits at the moment as I have got a few parts to paint," Mrs Chapman said.

The 2008 Ladies Tractor Road Run takes place on July 6, starting from Thorpe Abbotts Airfield at 11.30am followed by a picnic at Gawdy Hall Meadow at Redenhall.

judith.foster@dissexpress.co.uk