An award-winning poet from Wolverhampton who also founded a charity for arthritis sufferers in the city has died. Carol Boneham was aged 62.

Mrs Boneham, of Bamber Close, Bradmore, set up Wolverhampton Rheumatology Support Group (WRSG) in the mid-1990s.

She also featured in the Express & Star when she bagged a prestigious award at the International Society of Poets annual poetry convention in 2008 for the second year running, despite being dyslexic.

Her family today paid tribute to a “bubbly” person who always “lived life to the full.” Husband Peter, aged 66, said: “She had health problems throughout her life but it never stopped her doing things.”

Mrs Boneham was born in Leicester but came to Wolverhampton where she worked as a nurse at Woodlands Quaker Home For Older People on Penn Road. She left work in 1979 to look after her two daughters, Andrea, and Marie, who were born just months apart and are both now aged 30.

Mr Boneham, who also worked as a nurse, continued: “She set up the WRSG because she had suffered from rheumatism all her life. The group grew in popularity and soon had more than 500 members.”

The charity’s chairwoman Liz Walker said: “The WRSG would never have existed but for Carol’s vision and dedication to supporting people with arthritis in Wolverhampton.”

Mrs Boneham’s youngest daughter Marie, who now lives in Italy, added: “Mum always lived life to the full.”

Mrs Boneham died on December 13 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She also leaves behind two grandchildren, Ollie, aged two, and four-month-old Daisy.