Brave Josh and Karl are warriors together

One is a solder who battled back to health after being horrifically burned while serving in Iraq and the other is a 10-year-old boy who has raised thousands of pounds for charity despite fighting cancer.

Karl Hinett and Josh Jackson have been honoured in their community at the second annual Pride of Tipton awards.

Mr Hinett suffered 37 per cent burns to his body when the armoured vehicle he was in was bombed in 2005.

He spent five years undergoing operations for his injuries and since then has raised thousands of pounds for good causes by running 139 marathons, along with other events.

The 26-year-old, who now raises funds for Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, was presented with the Pride of Tipton award at the ceremony.

Mr Hinett, who now lives in The Buffery, Dudley, but was raised in Tipton, said: "I am very honoured to receive the award.

"It was really unexpected to be honest and I was just delighted to be included.

"It was really nice to be at the event and to see everyone else receiving their awards as well.

"Sometimes Tipton does not have the best reputation but this shows there are so many good people and how great the community is."

Mr Hinett said he believed his current fundraising total was over £50,000.

Josh, meanwhile, was crowned inspiration young person of the year. He is battling leukaemia for the second time.

Despite his own struggle, the youngster has worked tirelessly to raise funds for Birmingham Children's Hospital.

He has so far raised nearly £30,000 for the hospital.

Josh was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at the age of two. He underwent chemotherapy but the illness returned after only a short remission.

His mother Louise Smith spoke her pride on Facebook after her son received his award, describing him as 'amazing'.

The awards were organised by the ASDA Tipton community team, local police, the RSA Academy and Tipton Library, who are now grouped together as the Pride of Tipton group to show support for the awards.

Among the others winners was Norma Sherma, who has run a tea dance club at Tipton sports academy for 30 years, who received the lifetime achievement award.

Paula Beddoe, part of the organisational team behind the awards and ASDA community life champion, said: "We had a fantastic evening and got lots of positive feedback from those who came along.

"We started discussing the idea about two years ago and can really see it is taking off now, which is a wonderful feeling.

"I am just happy we can give something back to people who do so much for our community. Some of the stories you hear are so beautiful and it just goes to show how many inspirational people there are in Tipton."

The evening was rounded off with an appearance from Black Country storyteller Steve Bartley, who wrote a poem called Pride of Tipton especially for the event.

He said: "I am honoured to have been asked to write a poem to perform at the Pride of Tipton Awards.

"Tipton Community Police, Tipton Library, RSA Academy and Asda Tipton are once again doing a great job in celebrating the fantastic work that folks in Tipton are doing to improve their community."