TWO women from the Post area have been recognised on the Queen’s birthday honours list due to their commitment to their communities.

June Trevithick, from Callington, and Jacqueline White, from St Kew Highway, have received a BEM and an MBE for their work in their communities.

Seventy-one-year-old June, who has received a BEM, has been recognised due to her work with the local Royal British Legion’s poppy appeal, as well as working for the community soup run in Plymouth.

“I’m very pleased,” said June, who has had to keep the award a secret. “I’m just waiting now for it to be let out because I wasn’t able to tell anyone. I was not allowed to tell my children, which was very difficult!”

June has been a poppy collector for the Royal British Legion since 1969.

She said: “It all happened really through conversation! I had spoken to an RBL member in the pub and asked if I would consider collecting, which I was happy to do. I had a connection with the forces anyway through my great uncles.

“My youngest son was about six months old at the time, and the RBL member told me I would get to meet people and make new friends, so I thought — why not! So I was pushing one in the pram and had the other one sat on the pram, and I just carried on from there.”

June finished her membership with the RBL in 2014, but was a standard bearer until 2016, taking part in remembrance parades in Callington and Albaston every year and also holding the role for county parades.

However, June doesn’t limit herself to this. She has served with the Callington community soup run team since 2007, which operates in conjunction with the Salvation Army in Plymouth. Through this, June provides food, drink and support to those in need, which includes homeless people or people with drink and drug problems.

“I’m part of the Callington team, but we do it in Plymouth,” June said. “I wanted to get involved because I always think of people less fortunate than myself and I wanted to get involved in community work.

“We have to get it all ready, get a bit of shopping and organising a bit of it. We make sandwiches and get pasties, and then dish it all up. We have to make sure that the food will last them for 24-hours. We do it once a month in Plymouth.”

Additionally, June helps the elderly in her community by visiting them often, picking up some shopping or prescriptions or just spending some time with them to give them some company.

She is also an active staff member of her local pub, The Bulls Head, where she is fully hands-on with all the charitable events and activities, as well as a committee member of the local community centre.

Every week, she holds an OAP bingo session, which also includes a raffle so that a small amount of money each evening will be going to chosen charities.

June added: “I also worked in a school. I worked in the canteen for 35 years, where I then became the catering manager. I feel, in my heart, that I’ve got this (BEM) on behalf of everyone I have worked with.”

Sixty-seven-year-old Jacqueline White has been awarded an MBE for her services to charity and vulnerable people in Cornwall, having set up the Wadebridge, Bodmin and Camelford foodbanks in 2008, using her own savings of £1,000 to rent a small shop to kickstart the project.

Jacqueline’s husband was proud of his wife’s achievements. He told the Post: “My wife is very humble. She’s done this for 26 years and you don’t expect to get anything out of it. I am very proud of her and I’m sure deep down she is very pleased.”

After originally setting up the foodbank in 2008, Jacqueline quickly noticed the need for larger premises and the foodbank and storehouse became a registered charity, which is self sustaining and now in its tenth year has fed over 25,000 people using over 180 tons of donated food.

She also pioneered a hub and satellite model working with churches and community groups to run twice weekly drop-in sessions to allow clients to collect food and access support.

In addition to this, Jacqueline helped establish a scheme to provide holidays for local people who could not otherwise afford it, providing 26 families so far with a holiday.