A DEDICATED St John Ambulance officer from Bromsgrove has been mixing with royalty after scooping an invite to one of the Queen's famed garden parties.

Richard Smith, of Highfield Road, spent an afternoon at Buckingham Palace at a bash for community-spirited folk thrown by HRH Queen Elizabeth II.

The 24-year-old has been a member of Bromsgrove St John Ambulance Quadrilateral Division, based in Barnsley Hall Drive, for 13 years.

Richard was chosen to be the organisation's county representative for young people on Tuesday, July 16,

He joined at the age of 11 and has worked his way up to divisional officer and for the past three years he has been in charge of the cadet division.

The children's group has 25 members, aged ten to 18, and Richard is responsible for their training and equipping them with essential life saving skills.

He is also a qualified first aid instructor and for years the university student, who is studying computer programming, has devoted hundreds of weekends to ensuring the safety of the public at events across the country.

The former South Bromsgrove High School student took his girlfriend, Helen Gerard, also a St John volunteer to the garden party but first they paid a visit to the charity's headquarters and museum in London.

Richard told the Advertiser/Messenger: "I am the third generation of my family to belong to St John and it was a great honour to represent my division and county at Buckingham Palace."

His mum Diane Smith, who has been a St John member for 44 years, added: "We are all very proud of Richard.

"He saw the Queen but was not introduced and said he really enjoyed the day."