Worcestershire charity 'honoured' to have received King’s Award for voluntary service
Signpost Broadway and Kidderminster based The Wheely Different Theatre Company are among 281 groups to receive the prize this year
A Worcestershire charity say they are honoured to have been given the King’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Signpost Broadway, along with Kidderminster and Stourport based The Wheely Different Theatre Company, are among 281 local charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prize this year.
The award is the highest a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE.
Volunteer-led Signpost Broadway was initially set-up 25 years ago to provide a wide and diverse range of services to the community.
Chair of the group Helen Rushmore says they want to keep on supporting people in as many ways as possible, and the award means a lot to them.
"It's a huge honour," Helen said.
"The group was set-up in 1999 by Penny Ingles and a group of local residents because they recognised they lived in an area of small rural villages, and there wasn't great transport links, with one of the problems facing the local people getting access to information.
"We're here because we can direct people to the help they need, but increasingly over the years, not only do we connect people to other agencies and the help they need, we can also now provide services ourselves in our offices.
"Going forward, our goals are to increase our services and reach more people, and this is just a wonderful recognition of 25 years of dedicated and selfless service by our volunteers."
The Wheely Different Theatre Company are a group of volunteer performers who provide performance opportunities for adults who need extra support.
Leader of the group Elaine Kirby says they were also "delighted" to have won the award.