Queen To Honour Cruse Carers

A local voluntary organisation which supports those suffering bereavement is to be honoured by the Queen.

Cruse Bereavement Care in Northern Ireland has been announced as one of 79 volunteering groups from across the UK winning this year's Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, recognising the outstanding contributions made to local communities by groups voluntarily devoting their time for the benefit of others.

The prestigious national honour - which is the group equivalent to the MBE - sets the national benchmark for excellence in volunteering, and the activities of those awarded have been judged of the highest standard.

Cruse receives the Award from Her Majesty for its work in Northern Ireland as part of a national organisation which will celebrate 25 years in 2009 of providing vital bereavement support throughout the Province.

Currently over 500 volunteers and a small staff team provide a range of services including support to adults, children and young people alongside developing services in all of Northern Ireland's prisons.

Speaking of their success, Anne Townsend, Director from Cruse in Northern Ireland said: "We are thrilled to have received this prestigious honour for the contribution Cruse has made to bereavement support in the community, it will be valued by every volunteer and staff member in Cruse."

The 2008 Award winners were selected from 379 groups nominated by members of the public who have been helped personally or witnessed the benefits of a group's work in their community.

Cruse will be presented with an exclusive crystal trophy marking their success at a special local ceremony being given by the Queen's Lord Lieutenant for County Antrim, Lord O'Neill.

More than 600 groups around the UK have now won the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, over the six years since it was created by Her Majesty to mark the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 2002.

The other local winners are the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team, which aids lost or injured walkers and climbers in the Mournes and the Crossfire Trust, whose main aims are community development and reconciliation.

(BMcC)