It was announced on 2nd June 2015 that West Horsley Wheel of Care had been honoured with The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK and the equivalent of an MBE for voluntary groups. It is wonderful that the huge contribution that all of our volunteers, past and present, have made to village life has been honoured and recognised in this way.
Please click on the link below for a copy of the press release regarding this prestigious award:
A Garden Party was held at Buckingham Palace for all the 2015 winners of The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service. Gina Isaac, Founder and President of the Wheel of Care (on the right), and Amanda de Haast, current Chairman of the Wheel of Care (on the left), attended the Garden Party and greatly enjoyed not only the chance to go to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party but to meet other recipients of this prestigious award.
On 9th March 2015, Gina Isaac, Amanda de Haast, Miche Puddle and Julia Reardon Smith attended a celebratory evening at County Hall to which all the Surrey nominees of The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service were invited. Having met some of the representatives from the other nominated charities that evening, we came away thinking we didn't have a chance of winning the award. How wrong we were! Of the 18 Surrey charities on the shortlist, 13 were awarded The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service which is testament, in itself, to the fact that volunteering is alive and well in Surrey!