A TAVISTOCK voluntary group is to receive a prestigious national award in recognition of the work it does within West Devon.

Tavistock Outdoor Education Forum is to be awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service — a unique UK national honour created more than a decade ago by Queen Elizabeth to mark the Golden Jubilee in 2002 and to recognise outstanding contributions made to local communities by groups of volunteers. It has an equivalent status for voluntary groups as the MBE has for individuals.

Chairman of Tavistock OEF, 22-year-old Carrie Johnson, said she was 'very proud' that the group was one of the 117 recipients of this year's awards. Tavistock OEF will receive a certificate signed by the Queen and an exclusive commemorative crystal.

'It's very nice to receive it and hopefully it will give us a bit more recognition for the work we do,' said Carrie.

Tavistock OEF has 20 members, five of them under 25, who provide fully qualified outdoor education instructors for groups and individuals in the area.

Activities the forum can offer include kayaking, canoeing, caving, abseiling, climbing, walking and mountain biking. The group has a supply of equipment for all these activities and the forum instructors give their time for free, keeping the cost for participants to an absolute minimum.

Training provided by the forum ranges from the annual Ten Tors challenge to weekend canoeing and kayaking courses for scouts.

Carrie said: 'We don't just do it for young people, we have taken groups from the Molly Owen Centre — any groups can contact us if they want to go out canoeing or whatever.

'Because we are all volunteers and most of us are working, we do it mainly in the evenings and weekends — it will also vary depending on the season, but we estimate we do about 3,000 three-hour sessions a year.

'We try and make it as affordable as possible; we just need to cover our costs like travel.'

The OEF also applies for grant funding to cover training costs for its instructors.

OEF administrator Anne Johnson, whose husband Paul is o ne of the forum's instructors, said: 'It's really good to have this award, there are lots of people quietly getting on with giving opportunities for others to try something new in an affordable way.

'It also provides young people with a different avenue in which to try something, rather than doing it through school.'

The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service Award committee chair, former broadcast journalist Martyn Lewis, said: 'This year's winners of the Queen's Award for Volunteering have been judged the best in an impressive galaxy of volunteering talent.

'At grassroots level in communities across the land, there are millions of citizens identifying and tackling issues and problems that affect our society in all kinds of ways.

'They are the finest examples of democracy in action, giving selflessly of time and effort to make our country better for everyone. It is people like these who provide a fine incentive for even more of our citizens to join Britain's great and growing volunteer army.'