Every year since 2002, The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service honours UK volunteering groups who have made outstanding contributions to their local communities. This year there were 111 recipients of the award, and Mustard Tree was very delighted to be one of them.
Set up to mark the Golden Jubilee, the award is the charity’s equivalent to winning an MBE as an individual. We were one of 13 groups recognised in Greater Manchester, including Wood Street Mission, the Abraham Moss Warriors, and Compassion in Action.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service Award Committee Chair, former broadcast journalist Martyn Lewis CBE said: “With more than 15 million Britons now volunteering at least once a month, this year’s winners of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service have faced some tough competition. By being honoured in this way they have become the latest champions of a great movement whose members play a crucial role in identifying and tackling a whole range of grassroots problems in communities across our country. They represent the very best of democracy in action.”
We couldn’t agree more and are exceptionally proud of all the hard work our volunteers have put in over the years. With their continued help, we hope to continue to make a positive impact on the lives of the homeless and marginalised in Manchester.
Graham, Jim, Leslie, Anthony, Julia, Fiona, Abdul, Ian and Paul on their way to the ceremony.
Graham Hudson, our creative programmes manager, who attended this year’s awards ceremony had this to say:
“The Q.A.V.S. event was a quite grand affair and while listening to the citations read out about the various charities receiving the awards I was genuinely humbled yet at the same time greatly encouraged.
Greater Manchester it was said, had 13 awarded organisations which was more than double of any of the other wards in the north west!
“This is of course double edged, on the one hand, it confirms the massive need within our city yet on the other it highlights the amazing and tireless work that is committed on a daily basis by many, many charity organisations throughout our city and indeed, the country.
“I was extremely honoured to have been asked, alongside one of Mustard Tree’s trustee’s Bronwyn Rapley, to receive the award which I did on behalf of our volunteers, staff, supporters and service users including, those of the past, those of us present and indeed all those whose lives will be touched by Mustard Tree and Supporters in the future.
“Thank you to all who worked to bring this about. There is though, more to do.”
Vice lord-lieutenant of Greater Manchester, Mrs Edith Conn, Bronwyn, Fiona, Graham and Lord-Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, Mr Warren J. Smith
And, while we’re on the topic of awards, you can also help us become JustGiving charity of the year by voting for us here.