A man who has overlooked the providing of grants and payments to cultural events in and around Windsor for more than 50 years has been thanked with a special gift - a leather bound copy of his own book.

John Handcock was clerk to the Royal Albert Institute Trust Fund from 1966. The trust gives grants and payments to help local organisations involved in the arts and education.

He was also instrumental in organising the planting of an oak tree in Windsor Great Park marking The Queen’s and Duke of Edinburgh’s diamond wedding anniversary and the installation of two commemorative stained glass windows in Windsor Guildhall to mark the Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

The trustees of the fund thanked Mr Handcock at their last meeting by presenting him with a leather- bound copy of the book he wrote about the Royal Albert Institute Trust Fund entitled The Institute that became an Institution. They also presented a bouquet of flowers to Mr Handcock's wife Peggy.

As trust chairman Peter Gray said in the preface to the book "John Handcock is himself an institution and probably knows more about Windsor than anyone else I know."

Mr Handcock has stood down but the grants are carrying on.

At a recent meeting of the trust grants were awarded to Windsor & Eton Choral Society, the Windsor & Eton Society, Windsor Opera, the Windsor Festival and the Royal Windsor Rose and Horticultural Society.