Lord Lieutenant presents voluntary group MBE
Over 100 volunteers, listeners and friends gathered at St Michael’s Manor for one of the most significant events in the 45-year-long history of St Albans & District Talking Newspaper (SADTN): the presentation by the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service. This Award is made each year to around 200 groups across the UK. The 2019 Award was made to five voluntary groups in Hertfordshire.
The Lord Lieutenant was joined by three Deputy Lieutenants, the Mayor of the City & District of St Albans, the Town Mayor of Harpenden, three former Mayors of St Albans & District and the District Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Inclusion and Community Protection.
Welcoming these many guests, Chairman of SADTN Rob Pearman, noted: “Among the volunteers here today are several who have each been committed to this local charity for over 20 years. Indeed, one has notched up over 40 years, another 33 years, three others just over 20 years each.”
The Lord Lieutenant, Robert Voss CBE, told the volunteers that “the work you do to bring such pleasure and information to people in the community who otherwise would not be able to glean that information is absolutely fantastic. The Award that I will give on behalf of Her Majesty is really something extremely special. It is known as the MBE for volunteers.”
He added that it has been estimated that there are 150,000 regular volunteers in Hertfordshire, which is about 14% of the County’s population.
Presenting the award to some of the long service SADTN volunteers, the Lord Lieutenant read out the transcript signed by Her Majesty noting that this is “in the 68th year of her reign”. Volunteers at SADTN realised that they have a long way to go before they reach that level of service to the community.
More information about the Hertfordshire Lieutenancy can be found at https://lord-lieutenant-herts.org.uk/
Long serving volunteers accept the Queen’s Award from the Lord Lieutenant
Over 100 listeners and volunteers at St Michael’s Manor
