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14
Nov
Royal recognition for two Ripon voluntary groups
Ripon's army of non-stop knitters are to receive royal recognition for their tireless and talented voluntary work.
The Ripon Community Poppy Project, founded in 2017 by fomer city mayor Stuart Martin MBE and Hazel Barker, who was awarded the Freedom of the City in 2019, has this morning been informed that it has earned the King's Award for Voluntary Service.
Mr Martin, told the Stray Ferret:
It's the highest award that a local voluntary organisation can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE. We are absolutely delighted.
Ripon Town Hall decked in displays created by Ripon Community Poppy Project.
Since its formation, the group has created hand-crafted displays that have featured in events of solemnity and celebration in Ripon, starting with the tens of thousands of knitted poppies that adorned the city in 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armistice Day, which brought an end to the first world war.
Mr Martin pointed out:
We told people what we were planning to do for the special commemoration year and the message went viral and saw us receive 65,000 poppies produced both here in Ripon and from knitters around the world.
That gave us a tremendous start and we have built on it year on year, producing displays for all major occasions, from the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee to the King's Coronation.
When we needed a helping hand we have received assistance from many individuals, businesses and organisations, including North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service crews based at Ripon Fire Station, who scale the heights to put displays in place on the town hall.
Ripon based firefighters are pictured with Hazel Barker and Stuart Martin
Of all the projects so far handled by the knitters, none has come larger than production of a life-size replica Churchill AVRE 'bunker buster' tank, which became a stunning centrepiece for the D-Day 80th anniversary commemoration events in and around Ripon from late May until Remembrance Sunday.
The knitted tank on the forecourt at Ripon Cathedral.
Created in collaboration with Ripon Men's Shed and with assistance from 21 Engineer Regiment at Claro Barracks, the knitted tank attracted wide-spread media attention and reminded people of the city's rich and deep military heritage and the part played by the Royal Engineers in the Normandy Landings and subsequent liberation of Europe.
Award for conservation trust
Meanwhile, the Lower Ure Conservation Trust has also been awarded the Kings Award for Voluntary Service.
The conservation group has been praised by His Majesty for “restoring precious habitats and reconnecting people with nature in the lower Ure and Swale valleys”.
Volunteers over the years have built observation hides, enhanced wet grassland habitat for threatened wildlife species, such as Lapwing and Curlew and created a reedbed and fen.
More recently a plant nursery has been developed, where carefully selected seeds from locally and nationally rare wetland species are nurtured.
LUCT volunteer Laurie Reed in the charity’s plant nursery.
The Lower Ure Conservation Trust owns and manages Nosterfield Nature Reserve near Ripon, a 250-acre site restored from old sand and gravel workings, which in less than 30 years has developed into one of the best examples of wetland restoration in the north of England.
On receiving the award, Simon Warwick, director of the trust, said:
This is the most tremendous honour and none of the things we have achieved would have been possible without the most fantastic group of volunteers whom we have here.
We have known that for a long time – working in our nursery, undertaking practical conservation work, engaging in the all-important work of monitoring and surveying the wildlife we attract. It is so rewarding for them to know that the King has recognised that too.
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