Herts Vision Loss Charity receives The King’s Award for Voluntary Service
Herts Vision Loss logo – hertsvisionloss.org.uk
Herts Vision Loss Charity, which is a group of volunteers working across Hertfordshire, based in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire have been awarded The King’s Award for Voluntary Service for 2024.
This is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE.
Herts Vision Loss’s mission is to support and empower blind and visually impaired individuals in Hertfordshire by providing a comprehensive range of services. These services include information, advice, advocacy, counselling, assistive and technology support, home visiting, befriending service, social and support groups, as well as support to patients and staff at low vision and hospital eye clinics across Hertfordshire.
Herts Vision Loss is one of 281 local charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. Their work, along with others from across the UK, reminds us of all the ways fantastic volunteers are contributing to their local communities and working to make life better for those around them.
The King’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by local volunteer groups to support their communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate Her Majesty The late Queen’s Golden Jubilee and, was continued following the accession of His Majesty The King. 2024 marks the second year of The King’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Recipients are announced annually on 14th November, The King’s Birthday. Award winners this year are wonderfully diverse and include volunteer groups from across the UK, such as a mental health and wellbeing support network for veterans and their families in Yorkshire; a group preserving a historic 12th century castle in south Wales; volunteers providing English lessons for refugees in Stirling and an organisation providing a opportunities to engage in the arts for people with learning disabilities in County Fermanagh.
Representatives of Herts Vision Loss will receive the award crystal and certificate from Robert Voss, Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire later next summer. In addition, two volunteers from Herts Vision Loss will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May and June 2025, along with other recipients of this year’s Award.
Mrs Alex Hickinbotham, Chairman of Herts Vision Loss Charity“I am enormously delighted that our group’s work has been recognised by receiving this award. The charity has been in existence for nearly 110 years and all the staff and volunteers work hard to support the growing number of visually impaired residents of Hertfordshire. Their invaluable commitment to support individuals, their families and carers from initial diagnoses onwards deserves this accolade and I thank everyone for their input which has merited us the Kings Award for Voluntary Services recognition."
"We provide support in so many ways to the visually impaired residents of all ages across Hertfordshire. We support individuals at home, in their workplace, at school, with information, access to relevant technology, education, advice and friendship, we provide social and activity events, sometimes using our dedicated minibus to help some of their transport difficulties and have several Sight Life Groups across Hertfordshire to enable these aspects. In addition, we process their Visual Impairment national registration which helps them receive various benefits."
"Well done to everyone, all involved deserve congratulation. Am so pleased for us all. We have steadily continued to help our visually impaired all these years and expanded the services we can offer and will continue to do so hopefully for many more years to come.”
Ends
Join our mailing list
If you would like to receive regular news and updates about our work, then you can sign up to our mailing list.