MILL END COMMUNITY CENTRE RECEIVES
THE QUEEN’S AWARD FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE
Our hard working volunteers have been honoured with the Queens Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.
They are the backbone of the business and help in so many ways. They run our very popular weekly Community Café; weekly Job Club for job seekers; help with administration and legal advice and assist with ground keeping. They also play a major part in the annual Community Day and the Christmas Event where Father Christmas always manages to leave the North Pole and pay us a visit.
Mill End Community Centre is one of 230 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. The number of nominations remains high year on year, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to make life better for those around them.
The Queens Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by volunteer groups to benefit their local communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate the Queens Golden Jubilee. Recipients are announced each year on 2nd June, the anniversary of the Queens’ Coronation. Award winners this year are wonderfully diverse. They include volunteer groups from across the UK, including a community shop in Cornwall, an environmental group in Swansea, a group working with refugees and vulnerable people in Stirling and a thriving community arts centre in County Down.
Representatives of Mill End Community Centre will receive the award from the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire later this summer. Furthermore, two volunteers from Mill End Community Centre will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2021, along with other recipients of this years’ Award.
The Manager of Mill End Community Centre, Susan Gambula, says that she is very proud of her team of volunteers and is delighted that the hard work and dedication they show has been recognised and rewarded in this way.
Quote from volunteer: It all started when I was asked to bake some cakes for the newly opened Community Café, approximately 5 years ago. I continue to volunteer as it is my way of helping the community, I have made some very good friends and it is also where I met my lovely wife.