Volunteers from Maldon District have been nominated in Her Majesty the Queen's birthday honours.

Both Action for Family Carers in Maldon and Stow Maries Aerodrome in Purleigh have been nominated in this year's Queen's Award for Voluntary Services (QAVS).

The groups are among 16 nominated services from Essex, the most ever since the honour was created in 2002.

Winners of the QAVS are announced every year on June 2.

The Lord Lieutenant, Jennifer Tolhurst and chairman of Essex County Council, John Jowers hosted a reception at County Hall in Chelmsford to recognise all the nominated groups for the excellent work they do and their nominations.

Mrs Tolhurst, from Danbury, said: “The voluntary sector in Essex make a huge contribution to the well-being and life of our great county.

"It is wonderful to see so many groups nominated for this prestigious award and we want more of our excellent voluntary groups nominated each year to recognise and celebrate their outstanding work."

One of these groups is Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome, a volunteer-led WW1 military aviation museum.

The organisation’s Chief Executive Officer, Ian Flint said: “Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome is overjoyed to receive this nomination. We place volunteers at the heart of our operations and this is a wonderful acknowledgement of the hard work our volunteer team delivers.”

Action for Family Carers, a charity that has supported carers in Essex for 30 years, was also delighted to be recognised.

Chief Executive Officer James Clarke said: “I am so pleased that the efforts and dedication of our amazing volunteers to supporting unpaid Carers in Essex is being recognised in this way.”