Photograph by Declan Roughan
1,500 Hospice Heroes honoured at Belfast ceremony
VOLUNTEERS from Northern Ireland Hospice and NI Children’s Hospice have been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK. More than 400 NI Hospice volunteers attended a recent ceremony at Belfast City Hall to accept the award.
A remarkable team of 1,500 highly committed and trained volunteers support Northern Ireland Hospice 365 days a year. Volunteers support all aspects of the charity’s work, from Fundraising to Administration Support and Care Services to Support Services, all with one core goal to support families living with terminal illnesses across Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland Hospice is one of 193 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups across the UK to receive the prestigious award in 2016. 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 and financial challenges. Among those recognised was long-serving volunteer Betty Elliott, who received the League of Mercy medal for voluntary service assisting in the relief of sickness and suffering.
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 on June 2nd each year – the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.
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.”
Cllr Billy Webb, NI Hospice Chairman commented: “On behalf of the board of Trustees of Northern Ireland Hospice, I am delighted that our outstanding volunteers have been awarded with such a prestigious accolade. Day in, day out, across Northern Ireland, our 1500 volunteers help to support babies, children, young people and adults upon diagnosis of a life limiting or end of life condition. Our volunteers give their time so generously and with such dedication, that we now rely heavily on this team to enable us to care for over 3500 per year. Our volunteers are reliable, compassionate, dedicated and loyal and for these reasons and many more, we extremely proud that they have been recognised in such a high profile way.”
Photograph by Declan Roughan
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