GIRLS Brigade warrant officers Cheryl Walsh and Susan Gooding have plenty to smile about - after two years hard work, they have finally gained their Queen's Awards.

Now the pair, who attend 1st Oswaldtwistle Girls Brigade at Rhyddings Church, OswaldM-Btwistle, are off to London to a Royal Garden Party. It means a second trip down to London for Cheryl, a speech and language therapy student in Edinburgh, and Susan, who is studying maths in Newcastle. The first came last month when they went down to the Royal Albert Hall to collect their awards.

Cheryl and Susan, both 19, have clocked up more than 20 years in the brigade between them.

Both girls had to undergo initiative tests, uniform inspections, gain a high level of church attendance, and pass a final assessment.

In addition, to get her award, Cheryl organised a nature walk for the Junior section of the Brigade, completed an in depth study of the troubles in Northern Ireland, and did six months social service work, looking after the grandfather of a friend.

Susan did a study on the Holocaust, and taught two-year-old neighbour Michael Pollard the basics of swimming.

After collecting her award she said: "Am I pleased? Yes - I'm pleased it's all over! But seriously, I'm quite proud of it, and the garden party should be an experience seeing how the other half live."

Lieutenant Elizabeth Creasey, of 1st Oswaldtwistle Company, said: "It takes a massive amount of work to gain the Queen's Award, and with all their studies to do as well, I think they've done incredibly well."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.