Brooklands Museum volunteers recognised with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service for 2016
02 June 2016
The volunteers of Brooklands Museum have been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.
Volunteers cover a wide variety of roles vital to the Museum, from stewarding and guiding both adults and school children to restoration of aircraft and vehicles, research, marshalling at events, painting and gardening. Over 800 volunteers are registered at the Museum, coming from every sector of the community and professional background, and priding themselves on their professionalism, knowledge and enthusiasm. Visitors often comment about how much their visits are enhanced by interaction with them.
The Brooklands Museum volunteers are one of 193 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. The number of awards given to groups this year is slightly higher than last year, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to tackle community challenges.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work in their communities. The awards were created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and winners are announced each year on 2 June – the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.
Award winners this year range from a War Memorial Community Trust, providing social facilities for the benefit of the community in Clwyd, Wales, to a club enhancing the community by developing individuals through athletics, in Ayrshire and Arran, Scotland.
The Brooklands Museum volunteers will receive the award from the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey later this summer.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service Committee Chair, former broadcast journalist Sir Martyn Lewis said:
“I warmly congratulate all of the inspirational voluntary groups who have been rewarded for their community work with a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. The judging panel for this year’s awards were struck by the quality and breadth of all the successful groups.
The thousands of volunteers who give up spare time to help others in their community and to help solve problems demonstrate the very best of democracy in action.”
Minister for Civil Society, Rob Wilson, said:
“I would like to congratulate all groups who received this year’s Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, in recognition of their fantastic achievements. The huge amount of work and commitment these organisations put into their local communities is surpassed only by the passion and motivation of the individuals who volunteer. I hope these groups continue to inspire others to get involved and make a positive impact so that we can continue to build a more compassionate society.”
Allan Winn, Director & CEO of Brooklands Museum said:
“I am delighted that the vital role played by the volunteers at Brooklands Museum has been recognised by the Queen’s Award. Their unfailing enthusiasm, knowledge and dedication are reflected in both our visitor numbers - increasing year on year – and in the satisfaction shown by those visitors. It is true to say that without their involvement in every aspect of operations, Brooklands Museum could not exist in its present successful form. With our £8million Heritage Lottery-funded Brooklands Aircraft Factory & Race Track Revival Project due for completion in Summer 2017 there will be even more opportunities for the local community to become involved. John Silver, our Volunteers Resources Manager would be pleased to hear from anyone interested in volunteering at the Museum at [email protected]
