An Otley-based community interest company is celebrating winning a national award.

A View From The Hill, which runs networking events for volunteers, was one of the victors at last week's National Council for Work Experience awards.

The Otley organisation was up against stiff competition from the likes of John Lewis and East Coast Mainline, but still came away with the Work Placement of the Year (sub 250 employees) title.

The accolade was given in recognition of A View From The Hill's work with interns from the University of Leeds.

The company's founder and director, Edward Ryder, said: "We were delighted to win the award, especially against such big names.

"We started A View From... last year, and our interns have been a fundamental part of our growth.

"With no external funding, we have now run volunteering events from Leeds to London, along with a ground-breaking conference in York in February.

"We’ve also got some exciting plans for this year, and look forward to working with the excellent team at the University of Leeds to develop this."

The organisation's non-executive director, and Yorkshire Society chairman, Keith Madeley MBE also travelled to London for the awards ceremony.

Mr Ryder added: "It was great to have our own 'Mr Yorkshire', Keith Madeley MBE, with us.

"Yorkshire has been firmly behind our networking initiatives across the region, so it was nice to take a bit of Yorkshire down to the event with us."

The company also received a message of congratulations, and an invite to Parliament for a coffee, from MP Greg Mulholland (Lib Dem, Leeds North West) after Mr Ryder announced the award success.

Visit aviewfromthehill.co.uk for more details about the company's work.