The woman who saved the life of a pensioner after he suffered a major heart attack at the Princess Pavilion in Falmouth, has been nominated for a national award.

If it wasn’t for the quick-thinking of Ceinwen Morgans, 82-year-old John Ollerenshaw from Flushing would not have survived and to show their appreciation, the church warden and his wife, Sylvia, have put her name forward for an Everyday Heroes’ Award.

Ceinwen, 26 and from Falmouth, has now been shortlisted in the High Street Hero of the Year category of the Salvation Army’s annual awards. She has been invited to attend the awards ceremony, hosted by Strictly Come Dancing’s Tess Daly and with the likes of Coronation Street’s Samia Ghadie and Michelle Keegan and Matthew Wright presenting awards.

As modest as ever, Ceinwen is not rating her chances of winning the award, but is looking forward to the champagne reception, three course meal and ceremony at the Lancaster London Hotel.

“I am more excited about that than actually winning an award,” she said. “Just going to the black tie do and meeting all the other nominees will be great fun. All of my friends are nominating themselves to come as my escort.”

Ceinwen hit the headlines when Mr and Mrs Ollerenshaw returned to the Princess Pavilion last month to thank her for saving his life. The catering team leader had spent 30 minutes administering CPR, keeping the pensioner alive until the paramedics arrived.

“It was a traumatic experience and it doesn’t seem real now – it’s almost like it didn’t happen. It was so surreal.”

Mr Ollerenshaw spent four days on life support at the Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske before undergoing heart bypass surgery at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. He has since made a remarkable recovery and is in no doubt he owes his survival to Ceinwen.

It is for this reason that the couple nominated Ceinwen for the award. “We just felt she had been so brilliant that she deserved it,” said Mrs Ollerenshaw. “She would not give up and she definitely saved his life – without her he would have died. She deserves a medal.

“She is such a lovely girl, absolutely marvellous and we cannot be anything but thankful to her.”

Ceinwen will find out if she has won at the awards ceremony to be held on March 26.