She has consistently given her time, passion and skills to the people of Tamworth.

Of all her skills, her horticultural prowess, or "green thumb", occupies most of her time.

"Only a quarter of what I do is my green thumb," she said.

Mrs Goddard has been president of the Friends of the Tamworth Regional Botanic Gardens since 1995 and was a driving force in the gardens' development.

She is looking forward to installing the new Asian garden soon, with a "blaze of autumn colour".

Mrs Goddard has also hosted a talkback gardening program on 2TM for years and has been a member of the Tamworth Native Plant Society and the local garden club.

She can be found at the botanic gardens about four times a week, when she's not on her farm, with her "hands-on" approach to gardening and landscaping.

Mrs Goddard also judges many competitions, including the Tamworth Show Flower competition, sustainability community awards and the Spring Garden Spectacular.

As secretary of the Tamworth Regional Tidy Towns Committee, of which she has been a member for 20 years, she helped Tamworth win the state and national award in 2009.

In addition to her many gardening roles, she is the secretary of the Tamworth branch of the Retired Police Officers’ Association – her late husband was a local and well-known police officer – and secretary of the local Country Women’s Association.

In all of her activities she seeks no reward or compensation.

She hopes to continue her community work for many more years.

“There’s always something changing all the time and I know I won’t get bored that way,” Mrs Goddard said.

Receiving her award, Mrs Goddard said it was an honour and she was very thankful.

“When I look at my fellow recipients, I don’t know how I can be standing here,” she said.