THE woman behind a successful York careers advice service has announced she is leaving - only days after receiving an MBE for her work.

Sandra Furby, the manager of Future Prospects, in Swinegate, York, started the centre 12 years ago and has steered its progress ever since. But she has decided to give up her place at the helm of the service and is leaving at the end of July.

Mother-of-three Sandra, 45, who lives in Woodthorpe, York, has just received an MBE for her efforts giving work and learning advice to the people of York. But she said it was time for her to move on and take up a new challenge.

"I have been at Future Prospects for 12 years. It's a fundamental part of me," she said.

"It's my baby, but now my baby is grown up. It's brilliant now and it doesn't need me. So I thought maybe it was time for a change. If I don't do it now, I never will."

Sandra said her skills lay in getting projects started and making them happened so she is now looking to do something completely different. But she does not yet know exactly what that new project will be.

She says the MBE could not have come at a better time.

"I was really chuffed about the MBE. I decided at Easter to start looking for something new to do and getting the MBE was the icing on the cake," said Sandra.

"But it's not just for me, it's for everyone here."

She said she was proud of how Future Prospects had evolved from a "one-man band in the old Evening Press premises to an organisation with a national reputation."

In the last 12 months, the organisation has had 102,000 contacts.

People come from all over the country to see how the service works.

"It has been phenomenal," she said. "And it's something that exists because the people of York want it to be there."

Sandra said that although she is leaving Future Prospects, she will still stay in York and keep in touch with the organisation.

She said: "I can't even go into Tesco's without someone telling me that a course has changed their life. I think we're really lucky to get that sort of feedback. It's really touching."

Updated: 11:27 Monday, June 21, 2004