SAINT JOHN, N.B. – A former Saint John police chief was among thirty-one people to receive the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal last night.

Butch Cogswell has been volunteering for more than 50 years including decades as a youth and adult basketball coach.

Cogswell also runs a boys adventure camp for single parent kids. “We just finished our 40th year at camp. 40 years of doing this. At roughly 40 kids a year, you’re looking at well over a thousand kids we’ve influenced, hopefully for the better.”

Former St. Vincent’s High School Principal Carey Ryan also received a medal.

She helped start the Belfast Children’s Project, which brings kids from Northern Ireland to the Port City every summer. “We started in 1988 and kept going for more than 20 years and, actually, it’s still going.”

60,000 people across the country are receiving the medal which is in honour of the Queen’s 60th year on the throne.