Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scottish refugee charity awarded Queen’s top volunteering accolade

One of the first families the charity helped, Yahya and Ahed Hilal are pictured with their daughters Assma, Shaima and Fatima and volunteer Home Visitor Marisa Rosie
One of the first families the charity helped, Yahya and Ahed Hilal are pictured with their daughters Assma, Shaima and Fatima and volunteer Home Visitor Marisa Rosie

A Stirling-based refugee charity has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service – the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.

The accolade was presented to Forth Valley Welcome – a group of volunteers based in Stirling and Clackmannanshire – for their work supporting refugees who have been resettled locally.

Volunteers support vulnerable refugees who have fled countries overseas, like Syria, to learn English, organising events for them to get together and supplying them with material needs like furniture, clothes and kitchen equipment.

The charity has been busy during the coronavirus lockdown supporting refugee families, including distributing food parcels to mark the end of Ramadan and delivering arts and crafts packs to children.

Forth Valley Welcome is one of 230 voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year, alongside a community shop in Cornwall, an environmental group in Swansea and a thriving community arts centre in County Down.

Representatives of Forth Valley Welcome will receive the award from Alan Simpson, Lord Lieutenant of Stirling and Falkirk, later this summer. Two volunteers from the charity will attend a garden party at Holyroodhouse in July 2021.

Save Maharaj, Chair of Forth Valley Welcome, said: “We were very surprised and absolutely delighted to receive this prestigious Award. Our organisation started because of a small group of volunteers who were passionate about supporting and welcoming refugees into our area.

“We currently have around 75 volunteers and it’s really hard to put into words the incredible contribution they make to the organisation and their commitment to the families we support. We literally could not do it without them and it great to see them recognised in this way.”

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise the outstanding work by volunteer groups to benefit their local communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and recipients are announced each year on 2nd June, the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.