Nicky and Neil Halford, who founded the charity, Time is Precious, have received a letter and certificate from the Prime Minister as part of the Points of Light initiative, commending their hard-work and fundraising achievements.

First established by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, over 5,000 US Points of Light have been recognised in the USA. UK Points of Light was developed in partnership with the US programme, and launched in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street in April 2014.

Since then, hundreds of people have been named Points of Light by the Prime Minister, highlighting an enormous array of innovative and inspirational volunteering across the length and breadth of Britain.

After receiving several missed calls and an intruiging email from the Government, Nicky and Neil were informed of their selection to receive the award. Neil said: “We were on holiday at the time. We’d missed each others' calls for a few weeks, until we spoke to someone whilst in the car. We pulled over, and could barely hear what they were saying, but we could make out that it had links to the Prime Minister, and that we had won something, but we were unaware of what exactly.”

Nicky continued: “It’s nice that we’ve been found, instead of nominated – they came to us. Of course we were overwhelmed – it is nice [to be recognised], but we don’t do it for that.”

Neil added: “To see a child using a piece of equipment that you’ve purchased... You can’t beat that.”

Recently, the charity paid for a brand new Beamz interactive music system, to be used in the RUH. Beamz is an interactive tool for therapists to use, with music-making aiding therapeutic outcomes. The use of music can help patients with brain fitness, memory recall and improving communication. The equipment enables movement by engaging in the activity of making music, allowing greater benefits for cognition, socialization and motivation.

The charity has also paid for a new DVD player and headphones for the RUH, to be fitted inside a new MRI scanner, so that children can feel calm and distract themsevles whilst being scanned.

Neil continued: “For the first time since we started, we have a queue. We don’t tend to take on too many projects at once, but it’s starting to build up.”

The charity still has some places left for the Bath Half Marathon, and runners can sign up via email: [email protected], or by reaching out to the team via Facebook.