Worcestershire: Volunteers at Harvington Hall win Queen's Award

Harvington Hall

Volunteers who help to run Harvington Hall in Worcestershire, have been honoured with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.

Harvington Hall is a beautiful moated manor house with the largest surviving series of priest hiding holes in the country and a rare collection of original Elizabethan wall paintings. Many of the ingenious priest hides were designed by Saint Nicholas Owen. Originally built in the 1300s and developed magnificently in the late 1500s, Harvington Hall brings to life the fascinating history of the survival of Roman Catholic families and clergymen during the Reformation.

The volunteers carry out a wide range of tasks, from guiding groups around the Hall, to running the reception, leading workshops for schools, historical re-enactment, gardening and conservation tasks. The volunteers collectively contribute an average of 8,500 - 9,000 volunteer hours per year : based on the National Living Wage, this amounts to a donation of £61,200 - £64,800.

Michael Hodgetts, long-standing volunteer and Historical Director of the Hall, says, "It is wonderful that Harvington Hall's enthusiastic volunteers have received the recognition they deserve for enabling such a special place to be available for everyone to share. I have found it very rewarding to have volunteered at the Hall for 61 years and I know that I speak for all of the volunteers when I say that we want everyone to be able to understand how extraordinary it is".

Barbara Parkes and Sherida Breeden from Harvington Hall attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace on 25th May, where they met the Queen and other winners of this year's award. The Harvington Hall volunteers will receive the award from the Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire later this summer. Harvington Hall is one of 193 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year.

For more information see: www.harvingtonhall.com