Press Release –
Solihull Borough Talking Newspaper Association (SBTNA) receives the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2020.

SBTNA a group of volunteers based in Solihull have been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK. SBTNA is a charity that offers the freedom of its blind and partially sighted listeners to listen to local news whenever they choose. SBTNA is one of 230 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year.

The number of nominations remains high year on year, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to make life better for those around them. The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by volunteer groups to benefit their local communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
Recipients are announced each year on 2nd June, the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation. Award winners this year are wonderfully diverse. They include volunteer groups from across the UK, including a community shop in Cornwall, an environmental group in Swansea, a group working with refugees and vulnerable people in Stirling and a thriving community arts centre in County Down.

Representatives of SBTNA will receive the award from the Lord Lieutenant of West Midlands sometime in 2021. It should have been in the summer of 2020 but had to be postponed due to covid concerns. Furthermore two volunteers from the SBTNA will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in 2021, along with other recipients of this year’s Award. This will be on a date yet to be determind, again because of covid.

Mrs. Marion Canning, who was Chairman of SBTNA at the time, said: “How delighted we are that our group’s work to allow the blind and partially sighted freedom to hear the news at a time of their choosing has been recognised. I pay tribute to the hard work and commitment of our volunteers throughout the years, some of whom have been with the charity for over 20 years. SBTNA made their first recordings in the 1970’s.”

You can read more about the SBTNA’s history by clicking on the ‘History’ tab on the left hand side of this page. Ed.

Notes : –
1. Lord Lieutenants represent the monarch in each of the UK’s ceremonial counties.
2. This year there were 230 recipients of The Queen’s Award Voluntary Service from across the UK. More information on the recipients and the Award can be found at https://www.gov.uk/queens-award-for-voluntary-service
3. Any group of two or more people that has participated in voluntary work for more than three years can be nominated for the award. Full details on how to nominate are available at https://qavs.culture.gov.uk/nominations

Further information about the SBTNA and this award can be obtained from –
Derek Bush – Information Officer SBTNA Tel: 01564 775854, Or , Peter Morris -Group Leader SBTNA Tel: 0121 688 6883