A DORCHESTER woman is celebrating achieving a distinguished medal for her long service to the Scouts.

Eileen Galling has volunteered with the scouts for nearly 62 years and was awarded with the medal in a ceremony at the Scout and Guide Hall in Sawmill Road, Dorchester.

The Silver Acorn is the second-highest accolade that can be awarded by the Scouts for good service, and is so rare that Barry Thomas, district commissioner for Dorchester and West Dorset District Scouts, had never awarded one to anybody.

Eileen, who has set up five Cubs groups and led others across Devon and Dorset, said she wasn’t aware she was going to get the award.

She said: “The day I should have been awarded it would have been at Windsor Castle.

“I was going to be presented with it by Bear Grylls, but I couldn’t make it.”

Asked what her decades of volunteering have meant to hear, Eileen said: “I think scouting is very important because it’s something for young people.

“It’s meant a lot to me because I have enjoyed every moment I have had with Cubs, Scouts and Beavers.”

She added: “To me, the silver acorn is just something I have got for all the fun I have had.”