Sheffield charity shop volunteer, 82, nominated for award

Owen Graham has been volunteering at Sense in Hillsborough for four years

An 82-year-old Sheffield charity shop worker has been nominated for a volunteering award.

Owen Graham started volunteering at Sense in Hillsborough four years ago after the death of his wife.

He works five days a week and even takes home broken donated toys and watches to fix.

Mr Graham has been shortlisted for the disability support charity's Volunteer of the Year award, with the winner to be announced on 23 November.

He has been working at Sense Hillsborough since it opened and has been described as the "backbone of the shop".

He told the BBC: "It's keeping me active - if I was at home I would just be asleep which is not good for anybody.

"So I come here and I talk to everybody and I'm happy with that.

"It's a good job."

Mr Graham is up for Sense's Volunteer of the Year award

Mr Graham, who worked as a spectacle maker in Barnsley for 55 years, said that he would keep on volunteering as long as he was still enjoying it.

Shop manager Dawn Graham, who also happens to be his daughter, described her father as "simply marvellous" and said the shop would be "lost without him".

She added: "He feels valued here and he gives 100%."

Mr Graham's tasks include manning the till, training other volunteers and organising all the books, CDs and DVDs - which he calls a "full-time job".

Fellow volunteers called him "absolutely fantastic" and said regulars often ask where he is if he takes a rare day off.

Sense is a charity for the deaf, blind and people with complex disabilities and the awards is now in its 20th year.