A LOCAL celebrity has been praised by the Queen for her “dedicated work caring for the water birds in Alresford” in response to a letter on 'Amy’s duck food table' and the recent swan killings.

Amy Barnham and her work with the birds was mentioned by the Queen in a letter responding to ‘Amy’s duck food table’ supporter Chloe Lord.

On July 29 Chloe received a letter from Windsor Castle.

The letter dated July 22, addressed from the Lady-in-Waiting read: “The Queen was interested to hear about Amy’s dedicated work caring for the water birds of Alresford and the food table she has created for the appreciative ducks and swans, but Her Majesty was sad to learn that two of the local swans have recently been shot.”

Hampshire Chronicle: Amy's Duck Food Table, The Dean, Alresford.

Bob Barnham and his daughter Amy, of The Dean, Alresford, set up the duck food table three years ago to provide Amy with a purpose, combat her learning difficulties and offer a safer and healthier alternative to feed the local water birds.

Amy, 26, has significant learning difficulties and uncontrolled epilepsy caused by a form of brain damage called dysgenesis of the corpus callosum.

Bob had no idea that supporter Chloe Lord sent the letter praising Amy’s duck food table and was left speechless by the response from the royal family.

Amy’s father said: “I’m literally speechless about it, it was really hard to comprehend that it was real. That the queen had actually been told about Amy’s table and she was interested and sent her commiserations about the dead swans. It was just like wow, I can’t really fathom it.”

Bob came up with the idea of the table when college at a specialist unit came to an end for his daughter and she needed a new routine.

Hampshire Chronicle: Amy Barnham, 26, at Amy's Duck Table

He said: “Amy loves feeding the ducks and I really want to give her as normal and fulfilled life as I possibly can. I want her to be able to access something like we all do.

“She’ll never work, and she’s always loved going down to the river and feeding the ducks and swans. She adores swans.

“So, at the weekend we make up healthy duck food and take it down to a little camping table we put out there.

“I created her this job basically. It went from 15 bags a weekend to around 800 bags a week as it’s that popular, particularly during the school holidays.”

Amy has since become a bit of a local celebrity within the Alresford area, getting up every morning to do her job despite having several seizures throughout the night.

Bob continued: “It’s helped Amy with her cognitive thinking and communication, she meets so many people at the river. And also, from a physio point of view she carries varying weights of the box and bags, so it’s helped her physically as well. She walks much better than she used to, she’s happier. It’s had a massive impact on her.

“For me, as dad, I’m just so happy that it’s worked for her. She’s my inspiration, she inspires me every single day with everything she goes through in the night and still gets up in the morning and wants to do her job.”

Without day services to take care of Amy, Bob had to leave his job of 18 years as a maintenance technician behind him.

The father-daughter duo and their duck table can be found at the bottom of The Dean by the River Arle in Alresford. The table includes duck friendly food, notices from the Wildlife Trust and British Waterways as well as a donations pot for people to fund the food purchases.

The swans that were shot by the river in May were two of Amy’s favourites.

Bob said: “She had an incredible relationship with the male swan, he was really grumpy with everyone and dogs but with Amy he was calm, and he would stand and bow his head to her.

“Everybody knew about this relationship so when he was shot everyone crowded around her and wanted to know she was okay and sent cards and presents. I think that was the motivation for Chloe to write to the Queen because it was a big thing locally.

“So, getting a response has definitely lifted the mood.”

Chloe, 29, who lives in Bordon said: "After the swans were shot and everyone was so sad it made me think of the Queen. As the swans are The Queens animals I thought it would be nice to share with Her Majesty the work that Amy does, and the love and support that the town had for ‘Amy’s Swans’ and the ducks of course.

"It was so lovely to get a personalised reply, and so fantastic that The Queen would send some information on the Swan Upping that is done each year."

For more go to Amy's Duck Food Table on Facebook.