They received commendation awards at a Kirklees police divisional ceremony.

Mohammed Younis Choudary, chairman of Gulzar-E-Medina Mosque in Westtown, and Siraj Valli, president of the Mohaddis-E-Azam Mission Madani Mosque in Dewsbury Moor, along with Kirklees Faith Network volunteer Waseem Riaz received their accolades from divisional commander, Chief Supt John Robins.

All three played a crucial role in helping police and the Kirklees Faith Network of Sunni Mosques set up four hugely successful NPT Islam awareness training events at the Gulzar-E-Medina Mosque.

The sessions, which explained Islamic traditions and etiquette, were attended by more than 150 Kirklees police officers.

Mohammed Younis Choudary said: "The aim was to let these officers have a 'hands on' interactive and positive experience of walking into a mosque. The mosque felt our open door policy would hopefully allow lots of stereotypes and barriers to be broken down and this is exactly what happened during the training programme.

"So the gesture of offering a commendation award has come as an unexpected but very pleasant surprise."

Waseem, who helped develop the course's content with police, added: "The police scheme was a cherished project that I really valued and I will have lots of really good memories from it for a long, long time."