The team of volunteers at Children First Derby have been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service for their vital work supporting the Derby based charity, dedicated to working with vulnerable and disadvantaged children, young people and their families.
The prestigious award, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK and described as the MBE for charities, was officially presented to a small group of representatives of Children First Derby by H M Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Mrs Elizabeth Fothergill CBE.
“I nominated the charity’s volunteers for this award due to the fantastic support they provide to children and their families in Derby,” said Children First Derby Patron, Sir Stephen Moss. “I am delighted the volunteers have been recognised for all their hard work and the amazing contributions they have made towards the wellbeing of their local community. It is a great achievement and richly deserved.”
Established in 1974, Children First Derby provides three bespoke services; a Family Support Service, a Mentoring Service for young people and a Supervised Contact Service for Looked After Children in Derby.
Operating from its premises in Leopold Street, Derby, the charity is run by a small dedicated team of staff and over 60 family support, mentoring and fundraising volunteers, providing much-needed support to around 400 vulnerable children and young people every year both in the Derby area and beyond.
On receiving the award, Children First Derby Chair, Fred Jacques, said “We are honoured to have been awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service. This award reflects the dedication and hard work of all our volunteers and staff at Children First Derby and the fantastic work they do supporting vulnerable children and their families.”
Due to ongoing covid 19 restrictions, the official ceremony was a small, socially distanced affair, adhering to the latest government guidelines throughout.
Fred Jacques concludes, “We would like to thank H M Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Mrs Elizabeth Fothergill, for presenting our charity with this prestigious award. This is a fantastic boost to everyone’s morale during this time of difficulty and uncertainty.
“We are looking forward to having another, much larger ceremony and inviting many more of the charity’s volunteers to celebrate this achievement as soon as the government guidelines allow.”
Children First Derby 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 Queen’s 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 Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Recipients are announced each year on 2nd June, the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.