RPT volunteers honoured with Queen's Award for Voluntary Service

We're incredibly proud to announce that the volunteers of The Rugby Portobello Trust have been honoured with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS).

The QAVS is the highest award given to local volunteer groups in the UK to recognise outstanding work done in their own communities. The award was created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee and is the MBE for volunteer groups.    

The award has been granted following a rigorous decision process that began in 2017. After reviewing the nomination, members of the selection committee visited RPT to see services and to meet volunteers, staff and service users. The nomination required case studies and many statistics, as well as three references from public figures not directly involved with the Trust—the ease with which these were obtained is a tribute to our volunteers.

The QAVS is recognition of what we have seen daily for many years: that our volunteers have established a benchmark for excellent work. There are more than 200 volunteers working in our services, fundraising events and in the office. The support they give is far more than a welcome addition—it is vital to the continuation and success of RPT’s programmes, which support some of the most vulnerable and at-risk people in our community.

From our Chair:

Dear devoted volunteers of Rugby Portobello Trust,

Thank you to all you 200 and more volunteers who have have helped RPT win this prestigious and coveted award. You have worked selflessly through the last three years in the face of the tragedy and upheaval caused by the Grenfell Tower fire and by the current corona virus pandemic. You bring hope and encouragement daily to vulnerable and at-risk people across North Kensington. 

I congratulate every past and present volunteer on your contribution to the services RPT brings to local families and young people we work alongside. You help maintain an excellent, renowned quality of work and a reputation earned over 136 years. 

This is a proud and fortifying moment for us all in P3 and RPT.

Adam Hackett, Chair of the Board of Trustees, P3 and RPT

From our CEO:

I am absolutely delighted that our volunteers and Rugby Portobello Trust are being recognised with this collective MBE. This is a prestigious award and a huge tribute. Our volunteers are the heart and soul of RPT and undertake so many essential roles. Their loyalty and dedication has taken us through the best of times and some of the most difficult times in recent history in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Without them we simply would not be able to do what we do.

On behalf of everyone who works at RPT, I would like to thank and congratulate each and every one of our volunteers, both past and present.

Mark Simms, CEO

^{Thank you to all of our volunteers, past and present. Every one of you truly deserves this honour.}