A RETIRED Lt Col from Malmesbury who served in the Falklands War has been awarded an MBE for the work he and his charity has done to provide opportunities for young people to embark on adventurous projects.

Philip Neame founded The Ulysses Trust in 1992 to help raise funds for the first British winter ascent of Everest.

Since then, the organisation, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has raised more than £2.7 million to fund 2,600 expeditions around the world.

The Ulysses Trust has helped almost 33,000 young people from cadet and reserve force units and in 2016 gave over £200,000 towards 102 expeditions involving 1,906 people.

Philip, 71, said: “I am honoured but I think as much as anything else to get done everything that we have over the last 25 years, you can only do it with the people around you.

“The Ulysses Trust has been very fortunate to have some excellent people so I think it’s as much for their effort as mine.

“It’s a grant making organisation, the aim is to encourage young people to go off and mount challenging expeditions.

“We support a range of activities recognising everyone has to start somewhere whether it’s to support difficult attempts to summit Everest or for young cadets making theirfirst trip into the adventurous world in Snowdonia.

“We are trying to make sure we reach the sort of people that in other circumstances would never get to do that sort of thing, for example people from disadvantaged backgrounds, that’s where our grants can make the most difference.

“The underlying thrust is the personal development ofthe people taking part and also enhancing the morale and recruitment of reserve forces and cadets.

“We are great believers in cadets as the being at the forefront of engagement of youth in this country.”