Charity volunteers who transform the lives of ladies in Slough met the Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire - when he presented the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service trophy at Burnham Park Hall.

Meet and Mingle were one of seven charities to be selected to receive the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2017. But charity founder Aksa Marshal was unable to accept it personally then because of illness.

So Lord Lieutenant Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher came down specially to the hall in Windsor Lane, Burnham on Sunday, June 17 to hand it over a year late.

Mrs Marshal said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have received the award from the Lord-Lieutenant. I am so pleased for my wonderful group of volunteers to have this recognition.”

Sir Henry said: "The group has an amazing mix of volunteers and my wife and I were made extremely welcome by them all. They can be justifiably proud of their achievements and under the leadership of Aksa Marshal who herself has fought a very brave battle with ovarian cancer I know that they are optimistic about their future plans.”

Meet and Mingle provide healthy living activities, information sessions, cultural activities, projects, workshops and days out for women who live in and around Slough. The group serves a very large community of women mainly from ethnic minority communities.

Mrs Marshal was named the Volunteer of the Year 2015 in the Slough Voluntary Sector Awards. While Meet and Mingle were awarded third place in the Voluntary Sector Awards in 2014 and recognised with the Mayor’s Award for Community Service to Slough in 2015.

The charity now run three branches operating daily activities in and around the Slough area during term time.