Honour for Sea Cadet volunteer
STUART PIKE
A VOLUNTEER with the Sea Cadets has been honoured at the annual Lord-Lieutenant’s Awards for Lancashire.
Petty Officer Gaynor Bowker, 69, was awarded Her Majesty’s LordLieutenant’s Certificate of Merit, recognised as a laudatory honour throughout the Armed Services, in recognition of exceptional service with Accrington Sea Cadets.
The presentation was made by the Lord Shuttleworth KCVO during a ceremony in Preston.
Gaynor, of Beech Crescent, Altham West, joined the Sea Cadets as an Adult Instructor in 2008. She retired as a uniformed instructor in December 2016, but continues to support Accrington unit on the management committee.
Thanks to Gaynor’s work, the unit has grown in size, and she has been active in fundraising, organising activities and expeditions and teaching senior cadets the arts of cooking and stewarding. Gaynor, who is married to James and has two children, said the cadets “became her life”.
She added: “I feel very proud and surprised to be put forward – this will be something to show my family with great pride and pleasure.”