The greatest reward Mangawhai woman Christine Bygrave gets from her years of community work is being able to help young people.
It's partly what motivates her and her work has been recognised and appreciated by many, but she feels it's a ''huge honour and very humbling'' to be awarded a Queen's Service Medal (QSM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours list released today.
She was given the honour for service to the community after years of involvement with numerous community organisations and groups in and around Mangawhai.
Bygrave has been involved at a senior level with a number of organisations within the Mangawhai/Hakaru community for many years. She has been involved with the Mangawhai Historical Society from its early days, when a new museum was conceived.
She was involved with fundraising, commissioning, and completing the new museum, which opened in 2014. She was instrumental in establishing a fund to add regular sponsorship and return on endowments to the museum's operational budget and continues as an active volunteer and chair of the board.