262 organisations receive first King’s Award for Voluntary Service
Melanie May | 14 November 2023 | News
262 organisations across the UK have been awarded the first King’s Award for Voluntary Service, which is the highest award given to local volunteer groups in recognition of outstanding community service.
Formerly known as The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the annual award was established in 2002 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. In February 2023 it was announced that the award would become The King’s Award. It is equivalent to an MBE and is the highest honour awarded to voluntary groups.
Awarded to volunteer-led groups for their charitable endeavours, this year 227 organisations from England, 20 from Scotland, six from Wales and nine from Northern Ireland have received the first ever King’s Award.
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Sir Martyn Lewis CBE, the KAVS Chair said:
“His Majesty The King has a well-known commitment to volunteering, and this year’s 262 King’s Awards for Voluntary Service honour truly impressive recipients across the length and breadth of the UK.
“The awardees work selflessly as groups of volunteers to address every conceivable kind of local issue across all our communities. We owe them huge congratulations, but also much more than that for the inestimable value they bring to our society.”
Recipients in England include:
- BEEP Doctors (BASICs) Cumbria – a local charity delivering free highly-skilled emergency medical care to seriously injured patients across rural and urban Cumbria. In 2022, it attended 262 call outs and dedicated 1656 hours of volunteering.
- Pegasus Men Wellbeing Centre in Redruth – a support centre offering free one-to-one counselling and wellbeing support to those in Cornwall experiencing a range of issues.
- Brill Village Community Herd – a volunteer group caring for a community-owned herd of cows grazing the common in the village of Brill, conserving the habitat and restoring biodiversity.
- Northumberland Log Bank – a log bank for those in need due to financial constraints, poor health, advanced age or rural isolation in rural Northumberland, aiming to support around 300 households this winter.
- Isle of Wight Literary Festival – a registered charity promoting literature to enhance the education and wellbeing of the Island community. They currently have 50 volunteers and the organisation also runs a Schools’ Programme for under 18s.
- Wolverhampton ALZ Cafe – a bi monthly gathering offering integrated support to people living with dementia, their families and the community in the West Midlands.
- Bangladeshi Youth Organisation – a community-rooted charity engaging the youth and community in Manningham, Bradford. Activities and services aim to address educational underachievement, health inequalities, training and unemployment, community cohesion, isolation and loneliness.
- Notts LGBT+ Network – run entirely by volunteers, it has been supporting the LGBTQ+ community of Nottinghamshire since 1975, when it was known as the Nottingham Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. Over the last five decades, its volunteers have helped over 80,000 people and partnered with 100s of local businesses and organisations to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ related issues.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said:
“Each year, millions of volunteers give up their time to provide care and support, and this award recognises those truly making a difference to the lives of others across the United Kingdom.
“It’s brilliant to see the King continue the legacy of Her Late Majesty and reward those who support their local communities with kindness and compassion. Congratulations to all those who have been awarded.”
From this year onwards, awardees will be announced annually on 14 November to mark The King’s birthday.
The next round of awards will be assessed from December 2023 until May 2024, with the awardees announced in November 2024.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.