NINE hundred volunteers who give up their time for Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway have been recognised with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service for 2015.

The award is the highest a voluntary group can receive in the UK and honours those who are dedicated to the railway which operates steam and heritage diesel trains over its 12-mile line in the Cotswolds. It is one of just three voluntary and social enterprise groups in Gloucestershire to be honoured.

Glyn Cornish, chairman of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust and Bob Mackintosh, who has fulfilled a range of voluntary occupations which currently include train guard, signalman and accountant, attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace in the presence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, on Thursday May 28 along with other winners of this year's award.

He and Bob have between them, amassed almost half-a-century as volunteers on the line.

The awards were created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and winners are announced each year on June 2, the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

The railway will receive the award from the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, Dame Janet Trotter DBE, on September 14.

Mr Cornish said: “It is a huge honour for Bob and I to represent our wonderful voluntary organisation at Buckingham Palace.

“If it wasn't for the determination of those first volunteers back in 1980 who wanted to ensure that the much-loved 'Honeybourne Line' between Cheltenham and Stratford didn't fade from both memory and the landscape, after closure by British Railways, we wouldn't be here today.

“Since then countless volunteers have replaced track, buildings and infrastructure; restored carriages and locomotives; and operate train services to the highest standards of safety and professionalism over an ever-increasing length of our line."

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service Committee Chair, former broadcast journalist Martyn Lewis CBE said: “The judging panel for this year’s awards were struck by the quality and breadth of all the successful groups.

“The thousands of volunteers who give up spare time to help others in their community and to help solve problems demonstrate the best of democracy in action.”

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway runs from Cheltenham Racecourse via Gotherington, Winchcombe and Toddington to Laverton, the present northern end of the line. The railway is currently being extended to Broadway where a new station is being built on the original site which was demolished in the 1960s.

Over recent years, the railway has overcome significant hurdles not least of which was two devastating embankment collapses which divided the railway for three years. The £1m cost of repairing and stabilising the embankments was entirely raised by the railway's volunteers.

The railway currently carries around 80,000 passengers per year and has a turnover of over £1.3m.

A recent volunteer recruitment day attracted almost 100 new volunteers.