A remarkable year for a Second World War hero has ended with the announcement he has been awarded a British Empire Medal.

However, the award for Bollington 100-year-old Peter Offord Davies is not for his wartime heroics – but for his work with his local primary school.

Peter was a glider pilot during the war and flew Hamilcar Gliders, most notably as part of Operation Varsity, which was the largest airborne military assault ever launched.

The landings meant the Allies could get across the River Rhine into Germany in March 1945. The gliders that Peter flew carried heavy cargo, including tanks, and deposited them behind enemy lines. Peter's glider was hit several times during the battle and crash-landed, but remarkably he made it out.

Peter was honoured at Manchester Airport in August.

Earlier this year, to mark his 100th birthday, Peter was honoured with a surprise party at Manchester Airport – the site where gliders he flew into Germany were first trialled in 1940.

The story is told via this link.

However, it is his work at Dean Valley Community Primary School in Bollington near Macclesfield, for which Peter has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year's Honour's list.

Mr Davies gives up his time to serve as a volunteer reader for youngsters at the local school.

Reading volunteer Peter Offord Davis is the oldest to recieve Honours this New Year's.

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