Newquay Orchard Receives The Queens Award for Voluntary Service
Newquay Orchard, Newquay’s urban greenspace built by the community, for the community, has just been awarded The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
This is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE.
Newquay Orchard is a 7-acre community space with volunteering and education programmes at its core. With the first tree planted in 2015 and having worked with over 800 volunteers, the organisation has become a well-known and well-loved space in Newquay, offering everything from volunteering opportunities and growing spaces to workshops, events, a co-workspace, a maker space and the community café, known as Canteen at the Orchard – and simply just a space to breathe and escape.
Newquay Orchard is one of 244 local charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. This work, along with others from across the UK, reminds us of all the ways in which fantastic volunteers are contributing to their local communities and working to make life better for those around them.
Luke Berkeley, CEO at Newquay Orchard, said: “What an honour. I cannot think of a more fitting tribute to our wonderful community.”
“I would like to dedicate this Award to every single person who has given their time, their energy, their passion to Newquay Orchard to craft the space we have over the last 7 years. What we’ve created together is a project for our generation and the next and to say we couldn’t have done it without our team of volunteers is a huge understatement. We are truly built by our community.”
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by local volunteer groups to benefit their 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. Award winners this year are wonderfully diverse.
They include volunteer groups from across the UK, including: a rural support group for farmers in Shropshire; a community magazine addressing isolation in the Western Isles; a running club engaging all ages in County Tyrone; a film academy and community hub based in South Wales, and a food bank in Greater London feeding vulnerable individuals and providing training opportunities.
This week is also National Volunteering Week. To celebrate at both a national and community level, Newquay Orchard presented a total of 11 volunteers with a slate award, personally etched using the machines in the new maker space, Kreft, to mark 5 years volunteering at Newquay Orchard.
Lead Volunteer Darrin King is one of those celebrating over 5 years of service. Darrin, who has actually been part of Orchard community for 6 years, has seen the Orchard change immeasurably since he joined and, a keen photographer, has helped capture its growth and the journey of his fellow volunteers on camera.
He said: “Newquay Orchard is a one-of-a-kind project. It has been a pleasure to be part of its development all this time and I am so proud and delighted that our efforts have been recognised nationally.”
Volunteers from Newquay Orchard will receive the award crystal and certificate from Lord-Lieutenant Colonel Bolitho of Cornwall later this summer. In addition, two volunteers from Newquay Orchard will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2023 (depending on restrictions at the time), along with other recipients of this year’s Award.
Luke concluded: “Thank you to everyone who has supported us, visited us, grown with us over the last 7 years. It is an incredibly exciting time for the Orchard and we hope to see you soon to share the next stage of our journey.”