THE woman who founded one of York’s biggest museums has been presented with an MBE by the King.

Rachel Semlyen, who created the Yorkshire Air Museum and Allied Air Forces Memorial at Elvington, attended the ceremony at Buckingham Palace earlier this week, accompanied by her daughter Louisa and grandchildren Phoebe,a student at Exeter University, and Lula, a Fulford School pupil.

"It was an amazing experience," she said. "I gave a little curtsy and got to speak to the King. He asked me about the museum and I told him all about it. He was very interested it it. He hasn't been there."

She said the palace was full of 'beautiful rooms, gold and chandeliers, and beautiful paintings,' and Gurkhas, Beefeaters and the Household Cavalry were present.

Rachel added that her presentation was on the same occasion as Queen guitarist Brian May was knighted, and she saw him in the palace, although she didn't speak to him.

Rachel, the chair of trustees at the museum, was made an MBE in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours last summer for services to heritage.

She told then how she had hadthe idea almost 40 years ago of turning a derelict wartime site near York into an air museum - and created a top attraction now visited by 60,000 people a year.

She said she had approached the owners of what was then an abandoned and derelict wartime site, with the idea of restoring the buildings and creating a museum that would commemorate its place in history and the courageous aircrews who flew from there in the Second World War.

She said she met veterans returning to Elvington and learned about its history, and saw the potential and importance of preserving it from becoming yet another industrial estate and set about recruiting volunteers and creating the charitable trust that today employed between 12 and 20 full and part-time staff.

“It has been a long but exciting journey to get to where we are now—a fully accredited museum, a popular family attraction, with important archives for researchers and an internationally renowned collection of aircraft,” she said.

“Many of our early supporters are sadly no longer with us, but their enthusiasm and expertise enabled our current volunteers and employees to continue making it the great place it is today.”

She said it had been a ‘wonderful privilege’ to have played a part in the creation of the museum and was extremely grateful to her fellow trustees and family for their support.