A FORMER Tenbury councillor has been honoured with an invitation to the King's garden party.
Cliff Slade, who lives in Tenbury and served as a magistrate at Kidderminster and Worcester Magistrates' Courts for 20 years, received the invitation in the post last weekend.
Mr Slade said: "I am absolutely honoured and thrilled to have the opportunity to attend the palace with my wife Julie and we are very much looking forward to attending and taking tea with the King and the Royal Family in the palace gardens."
Mr Slade is known in Tenbury for his role as a former town councillor and for being a prominent local businessman and volunteering and working in various other roles.
He now works for West Mercia Police after 20 years as a magistrate.
He said: "It's always been important to me to give something back as a volunteer. In my Tenbury community, I have volunteered and been a town councillor and I have always been actively involved in the schools when my children were in attendance. I was once a county council candidate, five years as a special constable in Ludlow, 11 years as a firefighter, former chair of Tenbury town band, Independent member of the standards and ethics committee at the County Hall in Worcester for five years and many other volunteering roles as well, plus 21 years as a magistrate."
The garden party is on May 8 at Buckingham Palace.
Garden parties are hosted each year and see thousands of guests from around the UK invited to spend an afternoon in the gardens. They are seen as a way of recognising and rewarding public service around the country.
The King uses a network of sponsors, including Lord Lieutenants, societies and associations, government departments, local government, the armed services, the Church and other faiths, to invite guests. These bodies nominate guests for an invitation and allow for a cross-section of society to attend the parties each year.
At the parties, members of the Royal Family attend and circulate among the guests, with everyone having a chance to speak to one of the royals.
Guests are free to eat, drink and stroll around the palace gardens at the event.
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