A Teddington charity which runs respite cruises on the Thames for people in South-West London has been given the highest award for volunteers in the UK.

The River Thames Boat Project , which has its head office in Teddington, won the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service this morning (June 2) in recognition of its outstanding voluntary work in the community.

The small local charity has run therapeutic cruises for people with disabilities and older people for over 30 years, putting on 91 boat trips in 2018 alone .

It has two wheelchair accessible community boats, the Thames Venturer and Thames Discoverer, and also runs environmental education days for children.

Jon Chapman, Chair of Trustees of River Thames Boat Project, said: "We are truly delighted that River Thames Boat Project's work in the local community has been recognised with such a prestigious award.

"Special time on the river on our boats Thames Venturer and Thames Discoverer will be even more appreciated and valuable this year after all that has happened in the past year or so.

"Our volunteers are a fantastic and highly dedicated group who carry out numerous roles for us, including skippering the boats, crewing, environmental education, boat maintenance, helping in the office, client development, fundraising and helping at events.

"The work that we do would simply not be possible without these devoted, energetic and warm-hearted individuals."

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

The River Thames Boat Project is one of 241 charity and volunteer groups across the UK to be given the award and will receive it formally from Gillian Norton OBE DL, Representative Deputy Lieutenant in the London Borough of Richmond, later this summer.

Excitingly, two volunteers from the charity have been invited to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May next year, along with other recipients of this year's award.

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