A CHARITY that supports adults with learning difficulties is up for a prestigious national honour recognising excellence in the voluntary sector.

The Open Door Centre, which holds a drop-in centre at St Barnabas Church Hall, in Gorse Hill, has been nominated for the Queen’s Award For Voluntary Service.

The centre, run by seven staff and seven unpaid support workers, provides activities, outings and a daily cooked meal for dozens of members.

Senior support worker Craig Hiscock said: “We are over the moon. As an organisation, we keep out heads down a little bit, we don’t blow our own trumpets.

“But to have this recognition and to have got to this stage is amazing and if we get the award that would just be brilliant.

“The centre is massively important to the members who come here, it’s a big part of their lives.

“And for some people it’s their only point of contact and only support they get in their lives.”

The Queen’s Award For Voluntary Service, overseen by the Cabinet Office, is the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK for outstanding work done in their local communities.

The Open Door Centre was nominated by Jenny Meale, the wife of the charity’s acting chairman Gerry Meale, whose daughter Kelly, 33, suffers from Down’s Syndrome and attended the drop-in sessions for about eight years.

Trainee police officers and PCSOs, as well as reformed addicts from Gloucester House in Highworth, have often helped out at Open Door.

Mr Hiscock said the charity encourages volunteering to help people understand about learning difficulties and also to reduce costs.

Mrs Meale, of Stratton St Margaret, said: “I think the people who are doing the work, all the volunteers, are as much part of it as the paid staff and they are doing a good job.

“And I think with any volunteer work, you have to have a special kind of person and I think people who work with those with learning disabilities are worth their weight in gold.

“These places need the staff but they cannot always afford to pay for the staff so they do need volunteers to help them out.”

John Bush, the Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, will soon visit the centre to meet staff, volunteers and members. They will find out whether they have won in May.

For information about the charity call 01793 512357 or email theopendoor@btconnect.com