LIFE saving volunteers from Pershore St John Ambulance have been honoured on behalf of the Queen.

Two members of the Pershore volunteers were presented with the honours at recent Investiture Ceremonies at the Prior Church of the Order of St John in London.

The ceremonies saw Les Simms, a St John Ambulance volunteer of 36 years promoted in the Order to that of Officer grade.

And fellow member Martyn Wood, who has been volunteering for 30 years, admitted as a Member of the Order of St John.

Mr Simms and Mr Wood were invested by the Prior of the Priory of England and the Islands of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, Rodney Green, who represented Her Majesty the Queen, Sovereign Head of the Order.

Tony Haines, unit manager of Pershore expressed his extreme pride at the accomplishments.

He said: "It is indeed an honour for our unit to have two such amazing colleagues honoured in this way, all our volunteers work so hard and it is wonderful when their efforts are recognised at the highest levels."

And it's not just members of the division who have been honoured as Mr Haines himself has been receiving some prestigious awards for saving the life of a cyclist who suffered a cardiac arrest near Broadway.

Mr Haines used an AED defibrillator from his workplace at the Farncome Estate to save the life of Alastair Stagg and has recently been awarded the Ashley Jolly Sudden Adult Death Trust, National Lifesaver Defibrillator Award at the Royal College of Nursing by TV’s Dr Hilary Jones.

And in the last few weeks he has also been presented with the West Midlands Ambulance Service Chief Officer Commendation award.

Angela Tidmarsh, secretary of the Pershore unit, echoed her colleagues pride in their manager for his courage in such a daunting scenario.

She said: "Tony has trained for years for a situation akin to the one that he found himself in earlier this year, his quick thinking and painstaking dedication paid off and thankfully the cyclist is still with us to tell the tale of his memorable cycle ride in the Vale of Evesham.

"Tony is our hero, he is one of the nicest, kindest people we know and we are all so very proud of him."