'I didn't know our great-grandma did such amazing things'

How inspirational are your grandparents?

Well, Press Packers Elise and Renae's great-grandmother Locita Brandy has won a Manchester University Medal of Honour.

She was one of the founders of the Manchester Caribbean Carnival and also fought against racism in education.

The award is for her community work and for many years campaigning to help black children.

The sisters went to interview Locita for Newsround to find out more about her life and how she improved things for many black children.

They discovered some of her achievements, like changing school dinners, leading Saturday school so kids from the Caribbean could learn about their heritage, and getting books with racist language removed from the school library.

Afterwards Elise said: "It makes me feel inspired. I didn't know she's done such amazing things."

Renae said: "I'm glad things are better now for children like us."

Locita came to the UK from Nevis, an island in the Caribbean, when she was 21.

She settled in Manchester and later became a school dinner lady.

For lots of kids who had moved from other countries, the food at school was not what they were used to.

While she was working in a school kitchen, Locita decided that she wanted to make food that black children would recognise and enjoy eating.

She said: "I tried to introduce food that the black children would accommodate and the white children would also learn to know.

"We would cook half and half, potatoes as well as rice."

Locita also thought it was important that kids from the Caribbean learnt about their history, culture and identity.

These topics weren't covered in the school curriculum at the time, so she set up Saturday schools so children could learn more about where their parents and grandparents came from.

Locita said: "Only one island they knew about, that was Jamaica, and all the other islands weren't mentioned. So I have a picture here of all the islands."

Misinformation and racism at the time affected many black children.

In the 1960s, IQ tests wrongly led the government to believe that black and Asian children were less intelligent than white children.

As a result some black and Asian children were classed as 'educationally sub-normal' (ESN) and were sent to different schools.

Locita helped fight for black children to be included in mainstream schools.

She said: I had to call most parents together to let them know what this ESN standard meant. It was very demoralising for parents and children. We started to complain to the education itself, to do something about it."

A government inquiry called the Swann Report later found that racism played a part in the IQ tests and in 1981 a law was passed that banned ESN as a category.

Locita was also one of the people who started the Manchester Carnival.

She said: "So the idea was something that we brought with us here because there was nothing for us to celebrate apart from Christmas.

"What do you do to keep your spirit going? There wasn't anything, and so we went to council and said that we would like to start our carnival here and I helped the whole of Moss Side Manchester to know what freedom is like."

Elise asked her great-grandmother how it feels to get the Medal of Honour.

Locita said: "It's achieving something for my race. For you to win you have to fight, not physically but mentally.

"And I hope the people make way for the youngsters, especially the black children, especially the generations to come."