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The volunteers at Sterts Arts & Environmental Centre have been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.
Sterts puts on over 80 events each year and volunteers manage tasks as varied as bar, box office, chaperoning youth groups, staffing the café, stewarding shows and selling snacks or ice creams in the interval.
Peter Woodward, Centre Director remarks: ‘Every event is entirely operated by the volunteers, from the duty manager to those in high vis in the car park and this award is fitting recognition for all of them. Additionally the volunteers help maintain the grounds and the theatre, including looking after around 2000 pieces of costume and props.’
Sterts 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. Award winners this year are
wonderfully diverse. They include volunteer groups from across the UK, including a
community shop here in Cornwall and another thriving community arts centre, in County Down.
Representatives of Sterts will receive the award from Colonel Edward Bolitho, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall later this summer. Furthermore two volunteers from Sterts will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2021, along with other recipients of this year’s Award.
Alison Fenn, Chair of Trustees says:
‘I am delighted to hear that our wonderful volunteers have been acknowledged with this award. It’s not always easy to applaud all the hard work put in every year by the volunteers, without whom Sterts could not function. This award is recognition of all their dedication to the charity and a well-deserved accolade for each and every one of them.’