Queens Award for Voluntary Service to Chesterfield Canal Trust

[cheshire~rose]

Fantastic news officially announced today:

 

The Chesterfield Canal Trust has been selected as a recipient for The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2017. 

This is the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK.

The work the Trust does for the community was very much admired by the independent Assessment Committee, chaired by Sir Martyn Lewis CBE.

The award was created by The Queen in 2002 to mark the occasion of her Golden Jubilee, recognising excellence in voluntary activities carried out by groups in the community. It is the MBE for volunteer groups.

Trust Chair Robin Stonebridge said: “Receiving The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2017 represents a tremendous achievement for all of the Chesterfield Canal Trust volunteers, past and present, who have dedicated countless hours to promoting the canal and campaigning for its full restoration. We hope that everyone involved, and especially all our volunteers, feel immensely proud of the recognition that this Award represents.

“4th June 2017 marks the 240th anniversary of the opening of the completed Chesterfield Canal. 2017 also marks the 40th anniversary year of the founding of the Chesterfield Canal Society which laid the foundations for the Trust. What better year could there be for the phenomenal work of the Trust’s volunteers to receive national recognition – and what better recognition than the Queens Award for Voluntary Service?

“Over the years, the Trust has received magnificent support from local communities and from the members of the Chesterfield Canal Partnership, for which we are truly thankful. Today is one for celebrating the incredible feats that dedicated volunteers can achieve, and we hope that everyone in the vicinity of the canal, whether one of the Trust’s 1650 members or not, will join us in celebrating this honour.

“We have just nine miles to complete, and once a decision has been made about the route of HS2, we want to press ahead and get the job done – something that will definitely support community wellbeing and economic growth in our region and the wider economy.”

The Trust is run entirely by volunteers. These include:
* the Work Party, which has restored four locks, built two new locks and restored over a mile of the canal;
* the crews of four trip boats, which carried nearly 10,000 passengers last year;
* the teams which take out the publicity trailer, run the pop-up café and the shop at Hollingwood Hub.

In addition there are towpath rangers, maintenance volunteers, gardeners and archivists. A group built Dawn Rose, the first new Cuckoo boat for 80 years, using traditional methods only and another group is restoring the Trust’s ex-working boat, Python. Over 150 volunteers helped to run the most recent Festival.

Apart from the national recognition, the Award includes:
An invitation to a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, which was attended on behalf of the Trust by Kath Auton (Membership Secretary) and Richard Allsopp (Lifetime Achievement Award Winner 2017) on 23rd May;
Publication of our details in a special edition of The London Gazette – see below;
A signed certificate from Her Majesty The Queen – presented locally by the Lord Lieutenant;
An English Crystal with the logo insignia;
Permission to use the official QAVS Logo.

 

 

Here is the link to the article with a lot more photos:

http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/trust-awarded-queens-award-for-voluntary-service/

 

and to The London Gazette:

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/61945/supplement/J1

 

I am more than a bit chuffed  

[Stilllearning]

Congratulations, and well done to all the other volunteers involved.

[cheshire~rose]

Thank you very much

 

Still as chuffed as a chuffed thing  

[Starcoaster]

To be fair I reckon you personally must have done a large proportion of the work that led to the Trust winning the award, so well done you in particular.

Edited June 2, 2017 by Starcoaster

[cheshire~rose]

Thank you very much for your kind words Starry.

I am sorry I have not been able to easily log on over the weekend to thank you (Whitsunday Pie Weekend!) but I have to say your comments were very welcome even though they are entirely inaccurate! I don't do a large proportion of the work at all, I am just one who tends to open her gob about what the rest of them are doing. As those who know me will testify once this gob is open it's not easy to get it to close!

I have to say that, while I appreciate that the news being announced at lunchtime on a Friday in the summer when everyone is busy doing boaty stuff was never going to be conducive to getting a large number of people to read my post but I was somewhat dismayed that something that is such an incredible achievment goes virtually without comment or congratulations from a forum of so many members so the two of you who took the time to post congratulations have got a greenie from me today.

I still struggle with the new forum format and do not find it easy to follow threads like I used to and so my presence here is far less prolific than it used to be. Perhaps I need to make more effort

[mrsmelly]

18 minutes ago, cheshire~rose said:

Thank you very much for your kind words Starry.

I am sorry I have not been able to easily log on over the weekend to thank you (Whitsunday Pie Weekend!) but I have to say your comments were very welcome even though they are entirely inaccurate! I don't do a large proportion of the work at all, I am just one who tends to open her gob about what the rest of them are doing. As those who know me will testify once this gob is open it's not easy to get it to close!

I have to say that, while I appreciate that the news being announced at lunchtime on a Friday in the summer when everyone is busy doing boaty stuff was never going to be conducive to getting a large number of people to read my post but I was somewhat dismayed that something that is such an incredible achievment goes virtually without comment or congratulations from a forum of so many members so the two of you who took the time to post congratulations have got a greenie from me today.

I still struggle with the new forum format and do not find it easy to follow threads like I used to and so my presence here is far less prolific than it used to be. Perhaps I need to make more effort

I have just seen the original post. Absolutely well done to you all. All you need now is an AUCTION to celebrate 

[cheshire~rose]

13 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

I have just seen the original post. Absolutely well done to you all. All you need now is an AUCTION to celebrate 

What a good idea!

Perhaps that is what I need to do to force myself to get my head around how to read this forum now

 

Thank you

[Stilllearning]

The new format does take some time to get used to. What is missed is the old postings counter, which made finding specific posts very easy, if there is a way to do it now, I can't find it.

The low number of posts in reply to your great news has been a surprise to me too - volunteering can be a tiring and sometimes under appreciated way of life, but do keep on keeping on.

Were  I not so far away it would give me pleasure to be able to help out on the canal.

[p6rob]

Congratulations to the Chesterfield Canal Trust. I'm in awe of everyone that helps keep the waterways wet.

 

 

Rob

[cheshire~rose]

Thanks again folks

Oddly after reading this thread I found something to auction - money!

 

That could be an interesting auction lot.