The Queen has revealed she keeps a flask of tea in her official car when she joined a lively group of pensioners to celebrate a charity supporting the group.

Camilla toured an award-winning community group based in Cornwall supporting the elderly, those at risk of isolation, and mums and toddlers, and later met survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.

In the picturesque town of Saint Columb Major, the Queen chatted over tea to members of the Oasis Centre, a recipient of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service last year, involved in artwork or puzzles to keep them mentally active.

She joked with volunteer Sharon Tate, who said after chatting to Camilla: “I said you can’t move on, you’ve only had two sips of your tea, we’ll put it in a flask for you, and she said she already has one in the car.”

Ms Tate said the Queen praised the work of the organisation: “She was saying how people get so lonely at the minute and they need somewhere like this.”

The organisation was started by friends Pat Walton, 77, and Pauline Turner, 82, in 2008 after they alerted by a local postmaster concerned about how infrequently he saw elderly people in the area.

As the hall being used by the charity filled with chatter and laughter, Ms Walton joked: “When we first started, people wouldn’t talk to each other, they would just drink the coffee and complain if someone sat in their seat, now look at them.”

Camilla cut a cake to mark her visit with an unusual ingredient in the icing sugar – gin.

Volunteer Amanda Lean, who made the Victoria sponge cake, said: “I use gin because it stops the colours running (and) it evaporates better than water.”

She quipped about the Queen: “I think she likes gin – but she would probably like a drop more.”

The Queen later visited the Women’s Centre Cornwall in the Bodmin area, which provides specialist support to women and girls living with the impact of abuse whether sexual or domestic.

Camilla has visited many organisations supporting women who have experienced sexual violence or abuse and at the centre, she met staff and learnt about their work with women in prison.

When one staff member described herself as a “survivor”, the Queen replied: “I meet so many people who have suffered abuse and come back into the system to help others – because, of course, they know what they’re talking about more than anybody else.

She went on to say: “I think these places do so much good, 10, 20 years ago not many existed but they are springing up all over the place, thank goodness.”