New Year Honours: Camping challenge boy Max Woosey 'thrilled'

Max said he never thought he would be given an award for sleeping out in a tent

A 12-year-old boy who has spent more than 600 nights camping outside and raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity has been recognised in the New Year Honours list.

Max Woosey has been awarded the British Empire Medal.

He has been camping outside for almost 640 nights to raise money for the North Devon Hospice.

Max said he never thought he would "be able to win an award for sleeping out in a tent" and he was "so thrilled".

His mum, Rachael Woosey, said: "We've had an occasion when we've had to put another tent up because the tent was soaking inside.

"We had to do that because he refused to come in. It was dark, raining, he just doesn't give up."

Max, from Braunton, in Devon, was 10 years old when he was inspired to raise money for the hospice after it cared for his neighbour Rick Abbott before he died from cancer.

Max has been sleeping in a tent since the beginning of the first lockdown

The 74-year-old had given Max a tent and told him to "promise me you'll have an adventure in here".

In November, the hospice said it had received nearly £680,000 from Max's fundraising and the money equated to almost 20 nurses working for 12 months.

Max said he hoped the award would help him to raise more money.

The 12-year-old said he would "definitely hit the two-year mark" and "would love to raise £1m."

Boris Johnson's dog Dilyn joined the pair in the garden of Number 10

Since starting his adventure, he has camped at London Zoo, pitched his tent in the garden of 10 Downing Street and been joined by about 1,000 children for a "big camp-out".

Max cited high winds, angry pheasants and sharing the tent with slugs, spiders and worms as some of the biggest challenges.

"And a lot of red ants - they came for a bit of a midnight feast which was unfortunately me," he said.

He also said the night at London Zoo was far from restful.

"We were right next to the lion enclosure so the lions in that zoo, they face the walls when they roar to make it echo and make it louder, and it scares you so much," Max explained.

"I did a search on my phone for 'how high can lions jump?'"

Max has received numerous awards such as a gold Blue Peter badge, Point of Light Award, a Young Citizen of the Year Award by the Rotary Club of Braunton, The Melvin Jones Fellowship - one of highest awards a person can receive in recognition of their service to the community from Lions International - and an Unsung Hero Award from chief scout, Bear Grylls.

His fundraising was also recognised at the Pride of Britain awards when he won the Spirit of Adventure award.