Pride of Britain regional fundraiser revealed in the East Midlands

The Pride of Britain regional fundraiser of the year for the East Midlands has been revealed - and it's Stacey Goodwin from Chesterfield, who has dedicated her life to helping others living with addiction.

Pablo Taylor told her the good news.

Four years ago, Stacey Goodwin recovered from her gambling addiction. Now she dedicates her life to helping other women overcome theirs. 

Searching for someone to lend an ear, Stacey turned to the Gordon Moody charity for help - a safe space which offers courses and retreats for gambling addicts.

Speaking to ITV News Central, Stacey told us: “When I went through my journey I started at 18 and I didn't tell anybody for years because I thought gambling was a male thing which affects males. 

“I shouldn't be an 18-year-old girl suffering from gambling addiction. 

“I am three years clean of gambling now. 

“I needed a woman to sit and talk to, to just say how I felt and to just give me some help and that's exactly what I found at Gordon Moody’s retreat. 

“I felt so much shame about what I was doing.”

Stacey is now spending the large majority of her time helping other women going through the same experiences, raising money for the charity. 

She added: “It was important for me to say to other women that people go through this, it can happen to anybody and it doesn't exclude women.”

We told Stacey she needed to be in the office today to make a promotional film - and when Pablo surprised her with the award she said,

"Thank you so much, you proper got me!

"This is the best single greatest achievement from where I was.

"I can't explain what it means, it's hope to every single person who got as low as I did, to say look what you can do, you're not a bad person, you can get better"

Our panel of judges included ITV staff and multiple gold medal winning gymnast Joe Fraser. He said all of the nominees were winners in his eyes and it was a difficult choice, but he was really happy with the final choice.

Jane Fahy from the Gordon Moody charity said: “Gordon Moody wouldn't exist without people like Stacey”.

Stacey's next challenge is to walk across all of the bridges in London to raise awareness and money for the charity.