Group's pride at receiving 'MBE of charity awards'

A West Sussex charity has said it was "unimaginable" to receive the King's Award for Voluntary Service.

The Tamil Learning Centre was launched 19 years ago and mostly hosts people of South Asian heritage, but also welcomes anyone in the Crawley community.

The charity runs sessions including sports clubs, women's clubs and activities for the elderly, as well as teaching the Tamil language to children to instil a "deep sense of pride in their heritage", its co-founder said.

Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex, Lady Emma Barnard, presented the award to the charity at the Crown Plaza Hotel on Tuesday.

Lady Barnard described the award as the "MBE of awards" for charities.

Tamil is one of the oldest languages spoken in the world and is spoken by approximately 90 million people.

Sellakkandu Sivaseelan, co-founder of the charity, said: "A lot of us came from civil war in Sri Lanka, we started with teaching our cultural language, then it grew from there.

"Getting this award is a big achievement. We come from another country and the King recognised our work."

Vanathi Chandrakumar, secretary of the charity, added: "Getting together and meeting other people helps with so many things.

"We are really proud, it is amazing to receive this award. We all volunteer every Saturday, it's unimaginable and is really amazing."

Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.