A married couple have been made MBEs for leading a youth club which gives disabled youngsters the chance to mingle and flourish.
Adrian, 51, and Julia Giles, 49, were recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours for their work at Epsom Phab which supports more than 120 children a week.
Mr Giles, who started helping out at Phab at the age of 16, said: "We are very pleased and honoured."
Mrs Giles met her future husband when she started volunteering at the club aged 17 and they went on to become club leaders.
Of the MBEs, she said: “It’s all been very surprising and amazing it’s happened. It doesn’t seem real yet.”
She said they found it strange to be in the limelight, adding: “We are not normally at the front of everything. We are behind the scenes making things happen.”
Epsom Phab was under of threat of closure until November, but was saved by a campaign led by the young people themselves.
In 2011 Surrey County Council decided to sell its leasehold in Epsom’s Linton Centre, the club’s home of more than 30 years.
But following the campaign, councillors confirmed they would fund improvements and create a new home for the club at Nescot in Reigate Road.
Mr and Mrs Giles’ daughter Courtney won the backing of the National Union of Students (NUS) for the Save Epsom Phab campaign.
Courtney Giles
The Warwick University student won the I Am The Change Programme, run by the NUS, but submitting the idea of saving the club.
Mrs Giles said Courtney, their twin children, 16, and other youngsters made the club’s voice heard at Surrey County Council.
The weekly youth club gives disabled children the chance to socialise with each other and non-disabled children.
The club, which is lauded by parents for increasing their children's confidence and self-esteem, takes young people on holiday each year.
Epsom Phab counts Paralympic gold medallist David Weir as an ex-member.
David Weir
Tadworth resident Adrian Winstanley, lately director general of the London Court of International Arbitration, was awarded an OBE.
Paul Strank, from Worcester Park, was made an MBE for services to charity and community in Wimbledon and South West London.
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