A VOLUNTEER from Malmesbury, who has been supporting refugees in the Calais ‘Jungle’ over the past year, got to spend the day in more regal surroundings recently.

Esther Hamill attended a garden party with the Queen at Buckingham Palace with 8,000 other volunteers of various causes on May 19.

The 47-year-old has been back-and-forth between her home in Malmesbury and the refugee camp in Calais for the past seven months, helping to bring hope to lives that had none.

She was nominated to attend the party by Patrick Winter from the Refugee Council, who Esther had shown around the camp numerous times.

The event was kept as a surprise to Esther however, as Patrick had simply told her to save the date, not alluding to what was in store for the Malmesbury volunteer.

“In January he said he’d like me to go to a special day but said no more about it,” said Esther.

“A few weeks later I received an invite to a garden party at Buckingham Palace, I was really pleased but quite embarrassed, as the work I did [in Calais] I felt was just a normal thing to do.

“I was there for a long time and stayed in the camp, but there are a lot of people who deserve it much more. I don’t feel I stood out.”

Esther took her 25-year-old daughter Hannah along for the garden party, where they walked through the world-renowned official resident of the Queen.

“They led us through the two ground floor rooms of Buckingham Palace, through the main gates and into the gardens where marques were set up,” she said.

“There were bands playing and a big buffet and we walked around the grounds - it was a very relaxed affair.

“The Queen and Prince Phillip walked up to royal tent were people were lining the path. We saw them but didn’t get to meet them.”

Having committed herself to helping those in need in Calais for so long, Esther is now basing herself back home in Malmesbury, where she will be doing outreach work to help refugees who have made it across to the UK.

“There are a lot of people over there helping, so the tension is taken off them a little bit,” she explained. “My help is put to better use over here.

“I’ll be going over for brief visits, but what I found towards the end is I became so close to a lot of people and it was difficult going through the worries when people were trying to cross.

“From a selfish point of view, I couldn’t stay and get close to more people and go through process of worrying.”