Volunteering shows the best of Britain

In news terms this would seem an opportune moment to remind ourselves of the considerable time and support members of the Royal family devote to backing the nation’s voluntary organisations.

Thousands of royal charity visits dwarf the formal state occasions, and although most don’t make the national headlines, they are seen as a huge encouragement to many of the 25 million people across the UK who volunteer at least once a year.

This is on top of the charities the Royal family have founded themselves – most prominently the King’s Trust helping young people, the Queen’s Reading Room, the Princess Royal Trust for Carers (now the Carers Trust), the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Royal Foundation and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. All reach out with great success to address some of society’s challenges.

But there is one royal-inspired organisation which perhaps mirrors best the full range of help and need right across our country. It is the King’s Award for Voluntary Service. Created by Queen Elizabeth II to mark her Golden Jubilee, and now adopted by King Charles, it is part of the Honours system – the equivalent of an MBE – and exclusively for those local community organisations where volunteers are firmly in the driving seat, tackling all kinds of local issues in truly exceptional ways.

This year’s 231 winning volunteer groups embrace an imaginative and formidable range of activity: creating bespoke memories for families whose time together is short; empowering young people through sport or music; safeguarding vulnerable revellers at night; tackling knife crime; supporting families who have lost a baby; running free car services; improving mental health outcomes for veterans and prisoners; providing support for asylum seekers; turning a library into a community centre; restoring a railway station; entertaining children in hospital; providing interview coaching to women; delivering a search and rescue service; reducing loneliness; turning print into sound to bring local news to the sight-impaired; providing a caring woodland experience for those with dementia; building skills for the youth based on Navy traditions; offering food banks; running music festivals; and even staging the world’s largest honey show for beekeepers!

All of these volunteer-controlled groups choose, shape and run their own community contributions, with not an official or bureaucrat in sight.

This year, one award winner in particular caught my eye. They described their work as “empowering and enabling young people with disabilities to become valued members of society through volunteering”. Note those last two words. To anyone wrestling with the problems of life, whether they be physical or mental, whether you are one of the many signed off work through anxiety or about to lose your job through AI, consider what volunteering might do for you if you are not so engaged already.

You would share the pride and satisfaction that comes from helping others – and help yourself as well. For many of today’s young people that could also be a route into paid work.

Just take a look at the very first word of the citations of the groups winning the King’s Award for Voluntary Service this year: empowering, enabling, supporting, providing, enriching, improving, offering, bringing, preserving, combating, building, inspiring, giving, championing, developing, engaging, organising, rescuing, promoting, tackling, serving, and teaching – a veritable thesaurus of constructive help of many kinds available now in a community near you!

So from an idea created by the Royal family almost a quarter of a century ago comes this annual showcase of the British people at their breathtaking best.

Sir Martyn Lewis CBE, Chairman of the King’s Award for Voluntary Service