Queen Eliz­a­beth II has recog­nised T&T na­tion­al Len Pe­ters with the first Com­mon­wealth Points of Light Award in ho­n­our of his ex­cep­tion­al vol­un­tary ser­vice pro­tect­ing en­dan­gered tur­tle species.

In the lead-up to the Com­mon­wealth Heads of Gov­ern­ment Meet­ing in Lon­don from April 19-20.

The Queen—as Head of the Com­mon­wealth has thanked in­spi­ra­tional vol­un­teers across the 52 Com­mon­wealth na­tions for the dif­fer­ence they are mak­ing in their com­mu­ni­ties and be­yond.

A state­ment from the British High Com­mis­sion said by shar­ing these sto­ries of ser­vice, the Heads of Gov­ern­ment meet­ing will cel­e­brate in­spi­ra­tional acts of vol­un­teer­ing across the Com­mon­wealth and help in­spire oth­ers to make their own con­tri­bu­tion to tack­ling some of the great­est so­cial chal­lenges of our time.

Pe­ters is a tur­tle con­ser­va­tion­ist and chair­man of the Grande Riv­iere Na­ture Tour Guide As­so­ci­a­tion who pro­tects 20,000 tur­tle nests every year.

“Thanks to his ed­u­ca­tion­al work in lo­cal com­mu­ni­ties and reg­u­lar pa­trols of the beach­es, Trinidad and To­ba­go is now home to one of the dens­est leatherback nest­ing beach­es in the world,” it said, Pe­ters’ work ap­peared on BBC’s ‘Blue Plan­et 2’ with Sir David At­ten­bor­ough.

Each Com­mon­wealth Point of Light will re­ceive a per­son­alised cer­tifi­cate signed by Her Majesty The Queen as Head of the Com­mon­wealth.

The award for Pe­ters was pre­sent­ed by British High Com­mis­sion­er Tim Stew yes­ter­day at the res­i­dence of the High Com­mis­sion­er.

Re­ceiv­ing the award, Pe­ters said: “On be­half of the ded­i­cat­ed mem­bers of my or­gan­i­sa­tion l am ho­n­oured to ac­cept this Points of Light award.

“This award recog­nis­es many years of ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­tary ser­vice by me and mem­bers of my com­mu­ni­ty to pro­tect­ing the en­vi­ron­ment and cre­at­ing sus­tain­able liveli­hoods.

“My ac­cep­tance of this award, on their be­half, will in some small way in­spire oth­ers to see the val­ue of vol­un­tary ser­vice. l am tru­ly ho­n­oured.”

Stew said, “Mr Pe­ters has shown ex­tra­or­di­nary ded­i­ca­tion in work­ing to pro­tect the tur­tles that vis­it Trinidad and To­ba­go’s coastal wa­ters.

“I am de­light­ed to present him with this ho­n­our on be­half of Her Majesty The Queen. It makes him the first of 52 Com­mon­wealth Points of Light be­ing an­nounced in the weeks lead­ing up the next Com­mon­wealth Heads of Gov­ern­ment Meet­ing.

“I wish him all strength to con­tin­ue his good work in Grand Riv­iere. I hope that this award will in­spire young peo­ple in Trinidad and To­ba­go to see how they too can make pos­i­tive change with­in their com­mu­ni­ties.”