A volunteer with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme has been given a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Peter McIntyre Lamont, from Melksham, a volunteer and expedition assessor for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze, Silver and Gold Award Scheme, was awarded the BEM for services to young people.

He said: “I am humbled but it’s not just about me. We are a small team of volunteers, about six of us, and it is really for the children. We do it for them, we don’t do it for ourselves. That’s what volunteering is all about.”

Mr Lamont, 57, from Hornbeam Crescent, Melksham, added: “I received a call from the Cabinet Office two weeks ago and then they confirmed it last Friday. I was very surprised.

“My boss nominated me. He put me in for it last year but I thought it was for a commendation or a thank you gift through work. I had no idea it was for the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

“We are supposed to keep it a secret but I told my partner and my Duke of Edinburgh colleagues; however I didn’t say anything until last Friday.”

Mr Lamont has volunteer with the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme for the past 16 years, training, assessing and organising Bronze, Silver and Gold expeditions.

He works with the South Wiltshire Grammar School in Salisbury and up to ten other schools in Wiltshire and outside the county.

Based in Bristol, the civil servant works an adventurous training safety regulator, performing safety assurance checks on outdoor activity centres.

The Bronze Award entrants are taken on expeditions to the Marlborough Downs and Pewsey, while Silver entrants go to the New Forest and the Brecon Beacons, and Gold entrants to Dartmoor and the Lake District.

“We normally do about 16 expeditions a year between March and October but have only just restarted last weekend with organising a Gold expedition following the easing of lockdown restrictions.

“We will start to organise Bronze and Silver expeditions when the schools go back in the autumn.”

Mr Lamont dedicated his BEM to a former colleague, Chris Randall, from Durrington, who died two years ago from a brain tumour. “It was he who encouraged me to volunteer,” he said.

He will be presented with the BEM by the Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, Mrs Sarah Rose Troughton, during the summer.

The recipients will be invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party next year, once Covid restrictions are eased to allow them to take place.