A voluntary group from Wednesbury with centres across the Country who works in the community to make a difference through its social and charitable work has been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.
The Sant Nirankari Mission encourages all its members to participate in community life by undertaking a range of activities including Tree Planting initiatives, supporting Blood Donation Campaigns, Keeping the Local environment clean and tidy, organising large scale festivals to bring a sense of Oneness to the Community. The International headquarters of the Mission are in New Delhi, India and the Head of the Mission Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj is the driving force behind all their Community activities.
Gurpreet Bhatia from Sant Nirankari Mission attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace on the 20th May 2015 where he met the Queen and other winners of this year’s award.
The Sant Nirankari Mission is one of 187 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. The number of awards handed out to groups have increased by over 60% from 2014, due to an increase in high quality applications, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to tackle community challenges.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work in their communities. The awards were created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and winners are announced each year on 2 June – the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation. Award winners this year range from Ablaze, a charity helping to raise academic achievement amongst disadvantaged young people in Bristol to a volunteer rescue boat service on Loch Lomond.
The Sant Nirankari Mission will receive the award from the Deputy Lord Lieutenant’s Mr. Simon Topman MBE and Dr Satya Sharma MBE later this summer.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service Committee Chair, former broadcast journalist Martyn Lewis CBE said: “I warmly congratulate all of the inspirational voluntary groups who have been rewarded for their community work with a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. The judging panel for this year’s awards were struck by the quality and breadth of all the successful groups. The thousands of volunteers who give up spare time to help others in their community and to help solve problems demonstrate the best of democracy in action.”
Minister for Civil Society, Rob Wilson, said: “I would like to congratulate all groups who received this year’s Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, in recognition of their fantastic achievements. The hard work and commitment that goes into the work of these organisations is surpassed only by the passion and motivation of the individuals who volunteer. I hope these groups continue to inspire others to get involved and make a positive impact so that
we can continue to build a bigger, stronger society.”
Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of West Midlands, Mr Paul Sabapathy CBE said,’ I am delighted that 11 Queens Awards for Voluntary Service have been awarded to groups in West Midlands this year and I congratulate the winners. It reflects the wonderful voluntary work done by so many in all parts of this County. As I am personally aware of the amazing voluntary work done by the volunteers of Sant Nirankari Mission I would like to add my personal hearty congratulations to the inspiring and dynamic leader of the Missions, Harmohinder Singh Bhatia (Upashakji) and his team of dedicated volunteers striving to make the world a better place for all”
Harmohinder Singh Bhatia General Secretary of the Mission said, “This is a wonderful achievement for the Mission and it’s a result of the tireless efforts of all the Volunteers without whom the work of the Mission in the community would just not be possible. We have numerous ongoing projects and would encourage the local community to participate.” He further added, “There are so many exceptional projects we see undertaken in local communities and I would encourage all voluntary organisations to seek nomination for the Queens Award for Voluntary Services.”
The Formal Presentation of the Award by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant shall take place on the 5th August 2015 at 7pm at the Sant Nirankari Bhawan.
