Frodsham Community Association receives Queen's Award for Voluntary Service

Pictures Lynda Hayney

FRODSHAM Community Association has been presented with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service by the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire Mr David Briggs MBE, KStJ, at a special ceremony to celebrate the community centre’s 50th anniversary.

Volunteers from Frodsham Community Association (FCA) have been running the community centre since it was originally opened in October 1969. Over the past half century, thousands of local people have benefitted from attending events, clubs, groups, classes and societies there.

To mark the special anniversary, last weekend, a programme of events was organised to showcase the centre, including an evening reception, afternoon tea with entertainment from Frodsham Sings and Weaver Words Literature Festival and an open day with stalls featuring the centre’s various activities and groups, plus performances from the Janis Anderson School of Dancing and Zodiac Musical Theatre, also celebrating their golden anniversary.

The climax of the celebrations was the presentation of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service by the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire, 50 years exactly from the launch of the centre by his predecessor Lord Leverhulme.

Mr Briggs quoted from a newspaper cutting of 1969 featuring Lord Leverhulme’s speech and congratulated the FCA – one of only five winners of the award in Cheshire in 2019.

He said: “Today we celebrate and congratulate each one of you who has volunteered in any capacity to make this place a true centre of the community and by doing so make the whole community stronger and happier.”

Established in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, this award is the highest honour that can be bestowed on voluntary groups and is equivalent in status to the MBE.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is made in recognition of outstanding achievement by groups of volunteers who regularly devote their time to helping people in their community, improving the quality of life and opportunities for others.

Graham Reeves, Frodsham Community Association chairman, said: “We are delighted to receive this award. Over 140 people freely give their time and skills to help run the Centre and it is wonderful to receive this recognition from HM The Queen as we celebrate our golden jubilee.

“Together we provide the infrastructure which gives the many voluntary groups who meet here a place to share their interests and enjoy their recreational activities.”