THE FRIENDS of Longford Park and Earlsdon Carnegie Community Library volunteers will be thanked for their commitment to Coventry communities when they receive the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) this Sunday (October 30).
They will be among 17 organisations across the West Midlands to receive the award, which will be presented by the region’s Lord-Lieutenant, John Crabtree OBE at a special event at the Birmingham Hippodrome.
Two volunteers from each group will also be attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace next May.
The QAVS is equivalent to an MBE and is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive.
The winners were announced on June 2, the anniversary of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.
The Friends of Longford Park was set up to revitalise the popular green space after many of its facilities were removed in the 1970s.
Thanks to the work of the volunteers, it is now a community hub featuring some 2,000 trees and offering a host of outdoor activities for runners, walkers and cyclists.
Group leader Kerry Bigham said: “It’s important the park is looking lovely, when we had Covid it was the one place people could go.
“It’s been all about teamwork and we all try to help the community, it’s great they’re able to get this recognition.
“We’ve worked with schools, community groups and charities like Mind, and it’s so rewarding to see the impact the park has on their lives.”
A group of volunteers pulled together to help Earlsdon Carnegie Community Library become an accessible resource for residents.
A charity was set up to save and refurbish the library, which now provides vital services including a children’s library, book-borrowing, and social and friendship groups.
They are also going to be ‘warm welcomers’ so people can come in to keep warm this winter.
Julie Rubidge, from the group, said: “It’s always been so much more than a library to me and to so many others.
“I was delighted when I found out we’d won the Queen’s Award. We were told in April but had to wait until the Jubilee to announce it, which was a bit challenging as we were all so excited.”
The library hopes the award will encourage more people to donate to help fund its services, with the hope being that 200 people could donate £5 a month.
Visit https://earlsdon library.org.uk/ to donate.
