‘Greatest honour’ when The People’s Orchestra awarded Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service
The People’s Orchestra (TPO) volunteers are a vital part of this organisation making it as strong as it is today. That’s why it meant so much when the TPO was hand-picked for The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. This national royal seal of approval was not just an honour but also showed that work done by the army of much-needed volunteers was being recognised and rewarded.
It was a truly historic moment for the charity and given in recognition of the TPO’s community engagement through Covid lockdowns. We gave support to people including socially-distanced performances throughout the pandemic.
It’s the highest award bestowed upon any voluntary or charity organisation in the UK so there were special events to mark it. TPO members Matthew Wood and Chris Bentley collected the Queen’s Volunteer Award(QVA) on behalf of the TPO at a glittering ceremony in October 2021 at Birmingham Hippodrome. Founder Sarah Marshall was also invited to a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in May 2022 on the back of winning the award.
Matthew Wood recalled the special moment when he received the award: “It was the greatest honour I have ever received, bar none. “I’d been with The People’s Orchestra for 10 years at that point and it felt like recognition for of all the hard work the team and I do. That’s from keeping the TPO running and helping as many people as possible. “We’d done a dress rehearsal before the doors opened to the public and it was stressed to us how a QVA is the volunteer equivalent to an MBE.
Words cannot describe how I felt receiving essentially an MBE with this wonderful organisation.
“The event was also a great opportunity to meet other charities in the local community.” Matthew joined the TPO in 2012, two years after graduating but unable to find work in the media industry. Still heavily involved 12 years later, Matthew explained: “The TPO for me has always felt like a vital lifeline.”
