South Brent and District Caring Awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service
South Brent and District Caring has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) for 2022. For those unfamiliar with the award, this is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE.
We are one of 244 local charities (and of 2 in Devon), social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. This work, along with others from across the UK, reminds us of all the ways in which fantastic volunteers are contributing to their local communities and working to make life better for those around them. The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by local volunteer groups to benefit their communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate The Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Recipients are announced each year on 2nd June, the anniversary of The Queen’s Coronation. Award winners this year are wonderfully diverse. They include volunteer groups from across the UK, including: a rural support group for farmers in Shropshire; a community magazine addressing isolation in the Western Isles; a running club engaging all ages in County Tyrone; a film academy and community hub based in South Wales, and a food bank in Greater London feeding vulnerable individuals and providing training opportunities.
We are very proud that we have been recognised amongst other groups around the UK for the work we do within the community in both normal and pandemic times.
Our long-serving Care Coordinator, Jane Sullivan, who most of you will know steps down in the role later this month, and who will continue to volunteer as do many others in the community said:
“We are a small rural charity, and we were thrilled to be nominated for the Queens Award for Voluntary Service. That we have been awarded this honour is a testament to the amazing community in which we live. We all work together to help each other out, which in itself is extremely rewarding, but to receive this award as a community group is absolutely wonderful.”
South Brent and District Caring has been active in the community of South Brent and neighbouring parishes for a decade since its conception by our founder, Sue Burgess, in 2011 and formal charity status in 2012 and has grown from her and a few volunteers to an integral part of the support in our communities to the vulnerable and elderly. It was the Caring network and spirit which was the framework and core of the incredible community-wide response to the COVID lockdowns and the challenges it brought, particularly for the elderly, isolated and vulnerable in our community.
The Trustees wish to thank all the volunteers across the range of support and services we offer who make it happen, and all those individuals and organisations who have supported us financially and who continue to grant us the resources to continue our essential work.
If you want to share this announcement on Twitter please use #QAVS2022 and @SBCaring
You can find more information about the QAVS and the Government announcements at these links:
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) QCVS: DCMS
London Gazette: Announcements
Twitter: @queensawardvs
Facebook: QAVS Facebook