Westbury man John Adams is looking forward to his visit to Buckingham Palace to pick up his OBE.

Mr Adams, who lives in Leigh Park with wife Davina and their 20-year-old daughter, Holly, has been awarded the accolade for his services to social care in the recent New Year Honours List.

The 59-year-old has worked in the adult social care field for more than 35 years, having been a long-serving director of Scope, one of the UK’s largest disability charities.

He now runs a national umbrella body for voluntary social care providers and is chairman of the Department of Health’s Third Sector and Social Enterprise Sounding Board.

“I was delighted,” he said. “I had no idea it was a complete surprise and quite out of the blue.

“The letter is in archaic English, it’s almost Dickensian. I had to read it a couple of times to take it all in.”

Mr Adams, who is currently chairman of Westbury and District Link, which provides transport to the elderly and infirm, is looking forward to receiving his OBE.

He said: “The thought of going to the palace to collect the OBE is lovely.

“My family are delighted and Holly in particular is excited about the prospect of going to the palace.

“I don’t know whether it will be the Queen or Prince Charles or another member of the royal family.

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Prince Charles on a couple of occasions”

The 59-year-old, who is a church warden for the White Horse Team and helps run its food voucher scheme, added: “I’ve had lots of cards and letters from people, it’s very humbling. It’s nice to hear that they think it’s well deserved.

“It’s been a privilege working in adult social care with so many inspirational people.

“My aim has always been to try and improve the support available to those who can often face enormous health difficulties.

“But the real heroes and heroines of social care are the army of unpaid carers, many of them school age children or elderly people, who provide vital support to family members and friends.

“Without them the NHS would grind to a halt.

“These are the people who really deserve public recognition.”