River Thames Boat Project, a river-based charity operating in South West London, is delighted to have been honoured with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.
River Thames Boat Project is a small local charity based in Teddington, whose aim is to provide access to The Thames through two wheelchair-accessible community boats Thames Venturer and Thames Discoverer. Operating on the river between Teddington and Windsor, we provide therapeutic cruises for people of all ages with disabilities and older people, as well as environmental education days for children. We have a small staff team of 4 and over 70 amazing volunteers.
River Thames Boat Project is one of 241 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive this prestigious award this year. The number of nominations remains high year on year, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to make life better for those around them.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by volunteer groups to benefit their local communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate The Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Recipients are announced each year on 2nd June, the anniversary of The Queen’s Coronation.
Representatives of River Thames Boat Pro-ject will receive the award from Gillian Nor-ton OBE DL, Representative Deputy Lieuten-ant, London Borough of Richmond, later this summer. Furthermore, two volunteers from River Thames Boat Project will attend a gar-den party at Buckingham Palace in May 2022 (depending on restrictions at the time), along with other recipients of this year’s Award.
Jon Chapman, Chair of Trustees of River Thames Boat Project says: “We are truly delighted that River Thames Boat Project’s work in the local community has been recognised with such a prestigious award. Special time on the river on our boats Thames Venturer and Thames Discoverer will be even more appreciated and valuable this year after all that has happened in the past year or so. Our volunteers are a fantastic and highly dedicated group who carry out numerous roles for us, including skippering the boats, crewing, environmental education, boat maintenance, helping in the office, client development, fundraising and helping at events. The work that we do would simply not be possible without these devoted, energetic and warm-hearted individuals.”