We are very honoured to announce that the volunteers from The Brickworks Museum, Swanwick, Hampshire, 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.

   

The Bursledon Brickworks, the only Victorian brickmaking factory left in the country. It is host to a thriving volunteer community who provide a wide range of skills from welcoming our visitors, giving talks, helping with the collections and keeping the old steam-driven machinery running.

The Brickworks Museum 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 opportunities to engage in the arts for people with learning disabilities in County Fermanagh.

Representatives of The Brickworks Museum will receive the award crystal and certificate from Nigel Atkinson Esq, Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire.

 

Andy Elford, Chair of Bursledon Brickworks Museum Trust said:

“I am always amazed by the depth of knowledge and range of skills that our valued volunteers bring with them when working at The Brickworks Museum. It is our volunteers that really make the museum viable, with many hundreds of hours donated every year.

Receiving the prestigious Kings Award for Voluntary Service is the highest accolade possible, representing the ultimate reward for the skills and enthusiasm every volunteer brings to the museum and happily shares with each other and the wider public.”

 

Notes to editors

  1. Lord-Lieutenants represent the monarch in each of the UK’s ceremonial counties.
  2. This year there are 281 recipients of The King’s Award Voluntary Service from across the UK and Channel Islands.
  3. More information on the recipients and the Award can be found at https://kavs.dcms.gov.uk/
  4. Full details on how to nominate are available at https://kavs.dcms.gov.uk/
  5. Nominations for the 2025 award opened on the 1st September 2024.