A voluntary group from St Albans that works in the community to support those living with or affected by HIV has been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.

After learning of the award, local MP, Anne Main, said ‘this is a very well deserved award, and I’d like to take the opportunity to congratulate them on their success.  I’m delighted they have been recognised in this way.

‘The Crescent do invaluable work in St Albans.  Very many people tell me how much they cherish the service.  Both users and their families are extremely grateful for their help and support.’

The Crescent provides a variety of services for the community as well as for those living with or affected by HIV. These include a daily open access drop in, evening and weekend sessions, also awareness, education, prevention and outreach services, social groups, complementary therapies, HIV testing by post and instant testing onsite, advice, signposting and advocacy, peer support, emotional support and counselling.

Iain Murtagh and Michael Cannon from The Crescent attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace on 19^th May 2016 where they met the Queen and other winners of this year’s award.

The Crescent is one of 193 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. The number of awards given to groups this year is slightly higher than last year, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to tackle community challenges.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work in their communities. The awards were created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and winners are announced each year on 2 June – the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.  

Award winners this year range from a War Memorial Community Trust, providing social facilities for the benefit of the community in Clwyd, Wales, to a club enhancing the community by developing individuals through athletics, in Ayrshire and Arran, Scotland.

The Crescent will receive the award from the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire later this summer.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service Committee Chair, former broadcast journalist Sir Martyn Lewis said:

“I warmly congratulate all of the inspirational voluntary groups who have been rewarded for their community work with a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. The judging panel for this year’s awards were struck by the quality and breadth of all the successful groups.

The thousands of volunteers who give up spare time to help others in their community and to help solve problems demonstrate the very best of democracy in action.”

Minister for Civil Society, Rob Wilson, said:

“I would like to congratulate all groups who received this year’s Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, in recognition of their fantastic achievements. The huge amount of work and commitment these organisations put into their local communities is surpassed only by the passion and motivation of the individuals who volunteer. I hope these groups continue to inspire others to get involved and make a positive impact so that we can continue to build a more compassionate society.”

Iain Murtagh, Head of Operations – The Crescent Support Group

The Crescent is immensely proud to receive the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in recognition of the hard work of our volunteers and staff, without whom we simply could not provide the range of services for those living with or affected by HIV. We would like to thank all those who have helped us continue to do so despite the rather devastating loss of funding from Hertfordshire County Council in 2011.

Without the support of the wonderful people of St Albans, who have donated time and money to help us in our hour of need, we simply would not have survived. This award is for all of you and we wish to express, on behalf of our hundreds of members, our heartfelt thanks to you all.

There is still much more to do and we need your help as much as ever, HIV is still a very unfairly stigmatised condition. It is also still a major public health issue with 1 in 6 people living with HIV unaware they have the virus and over 6000 new diagnoses in 2014. Figures for 2015 will be available later this year but are expected to show an increase in new cases yet again.

The decision by Public Health England (PHE) not to fund preventative measures such as Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) that are available elsewhere and proven to reduce infection rates is very short sighted. We hope that PHE will reconsider this decision before more lives are needlessly affected and we urge you to talk to your MP about the issue, make them aware how important it is to you and for the welfare of the community.

We have much work to do, but together we can beat HIV. Please help us to continue to support those affected, and continue to work to reduce the opportunity for the virus to gain ground in our community.

http://www.thecrescent.org.uk/