A dedicated volunteer described as “phenomenal” is celebrating 10 years with the RSPCA and has been given a prestigious award.

Sandra Pilkington, of First Avenue, Sheerness, has won the RSPCA Exceptional Dedication Queen Victoria Award 2023 and has been invited to a presentation at Buckingham Palace in May.

Each year the charity holds national awards, so anyone in the RSPCA network can nominate staff or volunteers for different areas of work.

More than 200 people were nominated and a panel picked out one volunteer and staff member to be recognised for the main award.

Natalie Archer, project manager for the RSPCA Canterbury and district branch area, nominated Sandra to give her recognition for the work she has done in the RSPCA’s Sheerness High Street shop “because she is phenomenal”.

Sandra, who is 72 and retired when she was 62, decided to join the store’s team in 2014 because she was “bored at home”.

Asked about the award, Sandra said: “I was shocked, because I’d missed the first email, I think I might have deleted it thinking it was a spam email.

“The next email I got said I was a finalist, and, on December 12, we watched the awards online and I won the Support and Engagement award and then I was given the Exceptional Dedication Queen Victoria award.

“Something like this never happens to someone like me.”

For receiving the Queen Victoria award Sandra has been invited to attend a ceremony - a garden party at Buckingham Palace - in May with her daughter Claire.

The event will be hosted by King Charles and Queen Camilla and Sandra is awaiting her invitation which will arrive two weeks before.

Natalie said: “I felt like Sandra had never been acknowledged for any of the work that she does.

“She just goes above and beyond in her community and everything she does is voluntary.

“She’s full time and never misses a day ever and hasn’t been on holiday for ages.”

Sandra is known by her colleagues and customers for her dedication - often making alterations to people’s clothes when they purchase something to ensure the item fits properly.

“She also crochets and knits stuff all year round for the window displays and sells them,” Natalie added.

The RSPCA charity store in Sheerness now has up to 13 volunteers, which Natalie says is more than any other shop she manages.

One of the volunteers, Jack Turner, 28, who has also volunteered at the shop for almost 10 years, said: “Working alongside Sandra is absolutely amazing, she knows what to do, she’s one of the best managers.

“All of us have a great relationship with Sandra, we’re more like a family.”

Sandra, who has seven cats and two daughters, says she has no plans to retire and told her daughter Claire “the day I leave here will be the day I drop down dead”.

The animal lover said: “I’m not a lazy person and I’ve just got to be active all the time. I can’t sit and do nothing.

“I love the company and talking to people and when people bring their animals in it’s so lovely.

“I want to thank all the volunteers and also the customers - we get hundreds and hundreds of donations. It’s lovely that people support us the way they do.”