A gallery in Cookham which depicts the work of a world renowned painter has just been awarded a prestigious award for its voluntary work in the community.

The Stanley Spencer Gallery, on the High Street, and the Sir Stanley Spencer Memorial Trust have been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary service – the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.

The gallery is one of 193 groups to be honoured with the accolade during national volunteer’s week.

The award's committee chair, Sir Martyn Lewis said: “I warmly congratulate all of the inspirational voluntary groups who have been rewarded for their community work with a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

“The judging panel for this year’s awards were struck by the quality and breadth of all the successful groups.

“The thousands of volunteers who give up spare time to help others in their community and to help solve problems demonstrate the very best of democracy in action.”

The gallery is currently celebrating The Year of Stanley Spencer with a number of exhibitions depicting various work from the artist.