Tributes have been paid to a Blackwood carer, who died in the Tunisian beach attack this year, at the Wales Care Awards.
Trudy Jones, 51, was among the 38 victims of the shooting on June 26, and her children were guests of honour at the care ‘Oscars’.
Sons Ryan Gardiner, 18, Wayne Davis, 28, Gavin Davis, 32 and daughter Dana Brichard, 26, attended the glittering ceremony at City Hall in Cardiff.
They gave a moving speech about their mother over a three-minute video, describing her as the “rainbow in everyone’s cloud”.
Trudy was an activities co-ordinator at Highfield Nursing Home in Blackwood and according to colleagues, she was a “lively and popular” member of staff who was devoted to the people in her care.
The 39 residents at the home, many of whom are elderly and infirm, were devastated by the news of Trudy’s death – a woman they described as an “absolute angel”.
Her son Gavin said: “Mum was always willing to help others, she loved everyone around her, including all of the people she cared for at work and she was our hero.
“It wasn’t a job to her. The people mum looked after were her extended family and she did all she could to make their lives better. Making other people happy made her happy.”
Trudy brought up her four children alone and raised them to be strong, according to Gavin who told how the tragedy had brought the siblings closer together.
He said: “Before this happened we were all busy with families and work and rarely saw each other but this has brought us together, we’d be lost without each other now.
“Mum will be missed by so many people. She was the rock of our family and kept us all going. None of us have a clue how we’re going to cope without her.”
Trudy’s sister Jane Lewis, who also worked at Highfield, said she made the residents smile by buying them brightly-coloured slippers with her own money, including.
She said: “They were bright green with frogs on the end and everyone loved them.”
David Baynton, a relative of a resident at Highfields, said Trudy’s enthusiasm was“infectious, while Highfields manager Shawkat Ilahi said she would go “that extra mile for staff, residents and their families”.
Mario Kreft MBE, the Chair of Care Forum Wales, said the Wales Care Awards had gone from strength-to-strength.
He said: “The aim of the Wales Care Awards is to recognise the unstinting and often remarkable dedication of our unsung heroes and heroines across Wales and no-one epitomises this more than Trudy Jones who was devoted to improving the quality of life of people in her care.
“The care sector is full of wonderful people like Trudy because to them it’s not just a job, it’s a vocation.”