Royal Visit to BCM

PRESS RELEASE

Thursday 8 December 2005 was a landmark day at BCM. Not only were 200 members of the BCM family, made up of staff, volunteers and partners gathered for the annual Christmas Coffee Morning but they were graced by a visit from Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.

In The Year of the Volunteer, BCM has been recognised as a major volunteer agency within Northern Ireland. The loyal band of volunteers were awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service and the Award was presented in August by Lady Carswell, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Belfast, at a ceremony in Grosvenor Hall. The added honour of a personal visit from the Queen truly put the icing on the cake!!

Amidst all the accolades and celebrations the BCM Volunteers, who come from all parts of the community, still managed to clock up over 10,000 hours of service in the past year. They provided a broad range of services for children, adolescents and older people. These included cross-community holidays; a weekly Lunch club; regular Tea Dances at Grosvenor Hall; carrying out a range of fundraising activities; befriending; mentoring; mini-bus driving and on-going support in a range of other projects, especially at Christmas with the Annual Toy and Food Appeals and the Christmas Eve Street Collection.

The Queen’s Award recognises these diverse achievements and Her Majesty’s visit when both she and the Duke chatted with the assembled group and showed great interest in the 100 year history of work at the Mission, rounded off a year when the volunteers can fully justify their title of UNSUNG HEROES.