THE Friends of St Helens Cemetery were presented with their Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, the highest honour for a volunteer group.
The group received their crystal and Certificate of Authenticity signed by Her Majesty the late Queen Elizabeth II by Mark Blundell, Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside in the Crematorium chapel on Monday evening, November 14.
He was accompanied by Deputy Lieutenants Peter Woods and Rebecca Ross-Williams.
Father Martin Kershaw, RC Dean of St Helens opened the presentation with a prayer.
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Members of the Friends group were then individually introduced to the Lord Lieutenant who presented them with personal Queen's Award for Voluntary Services pin badges.
The Lord Lieutenant gave an explanation of the history of the award , the selection process and the exceptional standards required for the award to be given.
The certificate of authenticity was read out by Rebecca Ross-Williams DL.
Peter Woods DL gave a summary of the supporting documentation which had been submitted for consideration for the award.
An overview of the diverse work of the Friends over the past years was given and special mention was made of Sonia Smith, Bereavement Services manager who had supported and given many hours of voluntary time to the Friends at their events, and projects.
Also in attendance was Alan Chick DL, Jane Dearden DL, Cllr Lynn Clarke, Celia Parr and Ellie Farrell.
The Queen's Award for Voluntary Services is the highest award that can be given to a voluntary service and is equivalent to an MBE.
When the announcement of the group's Queens Award was made in June during the late monarch's Platinum Jubilee, Marlene Downey of the Frinds described it as "a great honour".
She added it was "a tribute to the hard work and commitment of the volunteers who have quietly and diligently carried out a service in the most sensitive of environments over many years."
Since 2006, their work has included organising a year-round flower delivery service, maintaining the PITY11 children’s memorial garden, public grave headstones, and building a summer house ‘to sit and rest awhile in’.
The group has also installed the Miss Fairisle post-box to help children (and adults) deal with bereavement, done heritage walking tours, Christmas Wreath making, Christmas Tree Service of Remembrance, Mothers & Father Day services, grave ownership research service, dealt with hundreds of grave location enquiries and worked in partnership with Veterans of the Saints Community Foundation.
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