Look at what we won in 2016!

Spelthorne Museum Press Release:
Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2016

Spelthorne Museum volunteers, based in Staines, have been recognised with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service for 2016

The volunteers who run Spelthorne Museum have been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.

Spelthorne Museum was founded in Staines in 1980, and since then the volunteers have run the museum themselves, with financial support from Spelthorne Borough Council. Approximately 40 people are involved, the longest-serving having been involved since the museum opened 36 years ago. Besides staffing the museum, the volunteers plan and mount exhibitions, both at the museum and at external events, run family friendly events in the museum, provide an educational service to local schools, host visits from community groups, publish books on local heritage, and answer queries from the public. A Young Archaeologists Club also meets at the museum.

Nick and Sue Pollard from the Spelthorne Museum Volunteers were invited to represent the group at a garden party at Buckingham Palace on 19th May, in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Nick and Sue Pollard at Buckingham Palace

Spelthorne 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.

The Spelthorne Museum Volunteers will receive the crystal 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.”

Roberto Tambini, Chief Executive of Spelthorne Borough Council, said:

“I was pleased to be able to nominate Spelthorne Museum for this award as I wanted the volunteers to be recognised and thanked for the fantastic work they do here in the Borough. The Museum is extremely well run and thousands of visitors have benefited from the knowledge and passion for local history shown by the volunteers who work there. Many congratulations to everyone who has helped over the years, this is very well deserved.”

Julia Gibbs, Chair of Spelthorne Archaeology and Local History Group which runs Spelthorne Museum, said:

“We are tremendously proud to have been honoured in this way. It’s a real recognition of the countless hours of unpaid work that have been put in by our volunteers over the last 36 years. We are very much focused on sharing the history and archaeology of the Borough of Spelthorne, and we hope that members of the community will feel inspired to join us and carry on this fascinating and worthwhile work”