Our volunteers win Britain's highest honour

York Against Cancer’s volunteers have been awarded the country’s highest honour because of their amazing work for us.

The volunteers, some seen here at a tea party that we held in their honour, have been given the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

It is Britain’s highest award for volunteering and the equivalent of an MBE. The announcement was made today, the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

We will receive the award from the Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Barry Dodd CBE, at a reception at Ganton Hall, near Scarborough, in September, alongside four other North Yorkshire organisations. We will be presented with a commemorative domed crystal and a certificate signed by the Queen.

Mr Dodd said: “I am excited for these five groups that have been recognised in the Queen’s Awards. This is the highest number of QAVS won by North Yorkshire since the award was instituted in 2002, surpassing the previous high of three achieved last year. I look forward to meeting members of the groups personally.”

Julie Russell, our general manager, yesterday represented York Against Cancer at a garden party at Buckingham Palace as part of the Queen’s Award recognition. She said she was overwhelmed  that the volunteers had been recognised with the highest honour the nation had to give.

“It’s particularly fitting that the award has come in this, our 30^th anniversary year, because it is the selflessness and dedication of our volunteers that has made us the success that we are today,” she said.  “Without our volunteers we quite simply could not do our work fighting cancer and making life better for people living with it.”