Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust Volunteers, a group of volunteers based in Dudley have been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.

The volunteers support an internationally important heritage site, ensuring the Dudley Canal Tunnel and limestone mines remains at the heart of the community. Volunteer activities are wide ranging from learning volunteers supporting school visits teaching children about rocks and fossils or black country industrial heritage; befriending volunteers who run the Chit Chat conversation club in the Gongoozler cafe every Tuesday morning engaging with those in the community who may be feeling isolated; to garden and towpath volunteers ensuring visitors have a great time on the boat trips and the site and surrounding waterways are kept clean and tidy.

Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust’s Volunteer Co-ordinator, Rebecca Cooper-Sayer says

“ I am so proud of our team of volunteers. They all work so hard in their different roles and I am thrilled that this hard work and dedication has been recognised in such a prestigious way”

Representatives of Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust will receive the award from John Crabtree, OBE, Lord Lieutenant of West Midlands later this summer. Furthermore two volunteers from Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2021, along with other recipients of this year’s Award.

Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust’s CEO, Traci Dix-Williams says:

“It’s amazing news. We are delighted that the work our volunteers do has been recognised in this way. Volunteers have been the backbone of the organisation for almost 60 years. Their hard work and dedication has helped ensure that the Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust, a heritage site of international importance, is preserved and remains at the heart of the local community”.