We’re delighted to share that we’ve received The King’s Award for Voluntary Service 2026. It’s the highest award a local volunteer group can receive in the UK, often described as the MBE for volunteer groups, and it belongs to everyone who gives their time here.
A hospice led mostly by volunteers
The award recognises groups that are led by their volunteers, and we believe we’re the only hospice in the UK that works this way. Our volunteers include experienced nurses, a doctor, our Hospice Manager and most of the people who lead the hospice – as well as the team of cooks, gardeners, carers and companions who make it all happen.
Cate, one of our volunteer nurses, says being here is like “giving a gift, not doing a job”. For patients, that gift means unhurried care. As one put it:
“I honestly do not know how I would have got through the last couple of years without the amazing team of (mainly) volunteers who make the hospice a place where it is safe to be vulnerable.”
A royal birthday
In the coming months, the Lord-Lieutenant will present the award, and next summer, two of our volunteers will be invited to a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.
The winners are announced every year on 14 November, the King’s birthday, which means that he spends his birthday giving presents to other people. We like his thinking.
Come for coffee
If you’d like to find out what volunteering here feels like, come and see us at one of our volunteering drop-in mornings. They’re on the last Tuesday of every month, 10am–12pm, and we’ll put the kettle on.
To every one of our volunteers, past and present, and to everyone who works alongside them: diolch o galon.
