Volunteers at Honiton's DAA receive Queen's Award

Yesterday it was announced that the Honiton Dementia Action Alliance has been honoured with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Services - the highest accolade for volunteer groups in the UK.

It is one of 281 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year.

Entirely volunteer led and run, HDAA works extremely hard to help make the lives of people touched by dementia within the community a little easier.

Aged between 9 and 90, a 40 plus band of volunteers from all walks of life are involved in providing much needed support, such as; serving teas, arranging fresh flowers for Honiton Memory Cafe, helping with the dementia friendly Nostalgic Cinema and driving the minibus on outings.

In February of this year, the organisation officially appointed an Admiral Nurse for Honiton - who is trained to provide specialist support and advice for Dementia sufferers.

This was a result of a highly successful fundraising campaign, which saw the town come together in a show of solidarity for the cause.

Heather Penwarden, Chairman of the Honiton Dementia Action Alliance, said:

"All members of Honiton Dementia Action Alliance feel hugely honoured, slightly stunned and needless to say absolutely delighted to be awarded the QAVS and to have their work recognised in such a special way.

"I am deeply proud of all that Honiton Dementia Action Alliance has managed to achieve over the past few years

"Our aim is for Honiton to be a safe and inclusive palace to live if you have dementia. With over 2000 people from retail outlets, businesses and organisation around the town having attended one of our Dementia Friends awareness sessions, I believe we all have a part to play in supporting people living with dementia and their families to carry on feeling valued members of community life.

"All this has been achieved through the amazing dedication of our volunteers and from the understanding and commitment to the cause from our whole community.

"I see this is an award for each and every one of our volunteers and indeed for the entire community of Honiton.

"If through receiving this award we can inspire other individuals and communities to learn from our experiences how absolutely amazing that would be."

The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by volunteer groups, which benefit their local communities and was created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

Winners are announced each year on 2 June - the anniversary of the Queen's Coronation.

Representatives of Honiton Dementia Action Alliance will receive the award from Mr David Fursdon, Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Devon later this summer.

For more information on the Honiton Dementia Action Alliance click the red button below.