- Those who have provided community support and empowered others receive highest number of awards
- Awardees include volunteers working in food banks, hospices and fundraising
The highest award given to local volunteer groups, The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, is being awarded to 244 organisations across the UK today in recognition of their outstanding community service.
Charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland receive the prestigious award for their volunteer-led work across a wide range of fields including mental health, youth, community, arts and heritage.
This year 204 organisations from England, 22 from Scotland, five from Wales and 13 from Northern Ireland will receive The Queen’s Award, highlighting the continued breadth and depth of voluntary service undertaken each and every day across the United Kingdom.
The awardees have all enhanced the lives of others through their work with the highest number of awards this year going to the community support sector, which includes food banks, village shops, fundraising events and men’s sheds.
Minister for Civil Society and Youth Nigel Huddleston said:
Our volunteers give up their time to help others and The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service recognises their selfless acts of generosity and kindness.
I congratulate all the awardees whose hard work and dedication is rightly recognised in this milestone year of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Sir Martyn Lewis, QAVS Chair said:
I warmly congratulate all the outstanding voluntary groups who have been rewarded with a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service this year. The level of commitment and innovation shown by these volunteers is truly impressive. We owe a debt of gratitude to them, and the countless others who give up their free time regularly to improve the lives of others in their community.
Empowering others is also an area well represented in this year’s Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service with confidence building, training opportunities, educational support and sports all highly recognised. Volunteers working in hospices, cancer support, long-term illness, search and rescue and first aid also feature prominently.
Coinciding with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service recognises that volunteers continue to provide a vital social function and improve access to services across the country.
This year’s recipients include:
- Knockmany Running Club in County Tyrone which utilises an unused forest to provide a space for all ages to run, walk and ramble through accessible trails.
- Cymru Creations in Gwent is a team of professionals who give their time to run an award-winning film academy, helping young people to create their own films and develop skills.
- Bright Minds Big Futures which is a youth led movement in Stockton-on-Tees providing social action opportunities for young people and working very positively with the council to make Stockton a better place to live.
- The Buddy Bag Foundation is providing support bags to children arriving in refuges which include toiletries, pyjamas, socks and underwear, in addition to comfort items such as a book and a teddy bear. It creates and supplies over 10,000 each year which helps to restore a sense of safety to the children in the West Midlands.
- 1st Buckie Company Boys’ Brigade is challenging young people from 6 to18 years old through physical and skills-based activities, community involvement and spiritual development in Banffshire.
- The Oasis Centre which is creating communities in four parishes in Cornwall with multiple economic, health and well-being needs through food provision, social events and practical advice.
ENDS
Notes for editors
- Find your local recipients on our map.
- Lord Lieutenants represent the monarch in each of the UK’s ceremonial counties. This year there were 244 recipients of The Queen’s Award Voluntary Service from across the UK.
- Any group of three or more people that has participated in voluntary work for more than three years can be nominated for the award. Full details on how to nominate are available online.
- Nominations for the 2023 awards close on 15 September 2022.
- An additional one-off award (The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Volunteering Award) was launched on 5th May. It will celebrate national charities working to benefit 16-25 year olds. More details online.
