STRATTON’S Jodi Walsh has won Girlguiding’s highest accolade – The Queen’s Guide Award – for exceptional leadership and community action in her role as an assistant leader for the charity.

Jodi, 22, a final-year physics student at the University of Bath, has proven herself to be a force for good in her community according to The Guide Association – having spent several years completing a series of demanding challenges to achieve the top honour.

Jodi, who is assistant leader of the 1st Stratton St Margaret Rainbows, was presented with the prestigious award by chief guide Gill Slocombe at a special ceremony held at Goldsmiths’ Hall in London on November 21.

The Queen’s Guide Award, open to young women in guiding aged 16 to 25, sets members a series of demanding challenges, including embarking on an ambitious four-day expedition, overseeing a community action project and devoting a year to cultivating a skill of their choice.

Jodi, involved in guiding since she was eight-years-old, helped to open her local Rainbow group when she was 14.

For her Queen’s Guide Award she took members of Girlguiding’s senior section hiking in Ulster and volunteered at the Prospect Hospice charity shop.

She said: “The biggest challenge was the trip to Belfast. It meant arranging flights, food, accommodation and activities – all somewhere I had never been before.

“It was a huge challenge and it rained a lot while we were there but we had a great time.”

Chief guide Gill Slocombe, said: “The Queen’s Guide Award embodies all that’s best about guiding.

“The adventures that recipients experience, the skills they learn and the friendships and confidence they build will last a lifetime.

“They will prove immensely valuable as they pursue their goals in life.

“This challenge has helped them become confident, skilled, self-reliant young women.”

Jodi joins an impressive list of former Queen’s Guide Award recipients including BBC journalist Kate Silverton.

She is about to finish a six-month internship working at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France, a neutron experimental facility.

A spokesperson for Girlguiding UK said: “Jodi is leading the way, showing how young women can make a difference.”