'It was an amazing experience' - Banbury community heroes awarded holidays by Ant and Dec

Prabhu Natarajan and Rowan Ridley were invited to be a part of the popular ITV show’s audience for its special 20th anniversary show.

During the show, the audience - which was made up of over 400 community heroes who had raised around £40 million for local communities - were all given holidays as a thank you.

Prabhu of the Lunchbox Project and Rowan of the Banbury Car and Bike Meet group worked together over the Christmas period, raising over £10,000 and collecting food for families.

The holidays came as a surprise to the pair, who only realised they were surrounded by other community heroes once it was announced during the programme.

Prabhu, who celebrated his birthday the same day the show was filmed, said it was like a special birthday gift from the community.

He said: “I was completely shocked when they announced it, and Rowan also couldn’t believe it.

"We would like to thank the people of Banbury for supporting us in all of our fundraising events and our ideas to help the community in Banbury.”

The pair both received the choice of a free holiday or a cruise as part of an ITV partnership with the holiday company TUI.

As Prabhu and his wife Shilpa are expecting the birth of their second child this May, holiday plans have been postponed until the baby’s arrival.

Prabhu added: “It was an amazing and once-in-a lifetime experience. I feel that it is a gift from the people of Banbury for the work we have done.”