Volunteers from the Severn Valley Country Park Supporters Group have received a prestigious royal award straight from Buckingham Palace. The award was presented by the Queen’s representative, the Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire Sir Algernon Heber-Percy KCVO, who visited the park to present the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service and a certificate signed by Her Majesty to group chair Don Bannister. This prestigious award is the highest award volunteers can receive.
Founded back in the early 1990s by then head ranger Chris Butterworth, the group has grown to around 35 members, with each person bringing different skills and knowledge. Volunteers meet twice weekly to assist the rangers to maintain the park and other countryside sites in South Shropshire, carrying out tasks such as repairs and maintenance of picnic benches, fences, footpaths, pools and hedges. They also undertake seasonal tasks such as coppicing, mowing, hedge-laying, balsam-bashing, and thistle-bodging and help with education visits and children’s activities in school holidays. Volunteers also make and sell items to raise money used for improving and creating wildlife habitats in the park.
If you’d like to become a volunteer, call 01746 781192.
