A political volunteer was handed her MBE by Prince Charles.

Long-standing Labour activist Eileen Davidson, of London Road, Feering, visited Buckingham Palace on Friday, after being named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June.

She said: "I have been a voluntary worker for the Labour Party since the age of 14, helping at elections, leafleting and fundraising.

"Strange as it may seem, I am still doing the same things nearly 50 years later.

"This is what most politics is about, day in day out, knocking on doors, leafleting and fundraising and this is what thousands of people do up and down the country all year round.

"I think this award is a recognition of those people across the country for the valued contribution they make to the political and democratic health of the nation."