The Angel Boat (Angel Community Canal Boat Trust) is delighted to have received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (announced on 2nd June 2014). The award recognises the tremendous amount of unpaid time and hard work which has been provided by our volunteers since 1976 in managing, running, crewing and maintaining our charity’s Islington-based community canal boat, and the benefit that this has brought to our local community. As the official citation recognises, our volunteers have enabled many thousands of “young, disadvantaged, elderly and isolated people on day and residential trips to enjoy the waterways’ environment, and experience working together as crew and living aboard”.
The award comes at a time when the latest round of local authority budget cuts is expected to see the end of the charity’s existing core funding under a service agreement with Islington Council. Volunteers will now have to spend much more time on seeking alternative funding streams to secure the Angel Boat’s future.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work done in their own communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate the anniversary of the Queen’s coronation. It is the MBE for volunteer groups.