Preview: Selsey community forum to be presented King's Award next week

The award is the highest honour a volunteer service can be given and equivalent of an MBE.

The Selsey Community Forum is a partnership of a range of local voluntary organisations. They cooperate with a range of sectors to identify and meet local needs. Over the past ten years, the forum has been involved with partners in starting and sustaining over one hundred new activities and organisations.

Richard Lamdin, one of the trustees said: “We are honoured that Selsey Community Forum has been chosen to receive the King’s Award for Voluntary Service. This award truly is absolute testament to the hard work and commitment of the volunteers who support Selsey Community Forum and its staff, I could not be prouder of them.

"It goes without saying that this is an incredible honour for our whole community.”

“This Award recognises the work of Selsey Community Forum in various partnerships as we address loneliness, offer support to voluntary carers, those living with dementia, those unemployed, others facing financial challenges, the housebound, those struggling with mental health and concerned with environmental matters, all of which is accessed through Selsey Care Shop.”

“Unbelievably, we have been in operation now for 13 years, working with over 200 volunteers and regularly supporting upwards of 1500 people in our community. =

“So as a trustee, I do thank our wonderful volunteers for whom this award is chiefly in recognition of.”

Mike Nichols has been the Chairman of The Selsey Forum since it began and spoke about how they found out that they received the award. He said: “It came in on our central email and was an announcement from the Kings Award voluntary service email.

“They let us know what had happened and we were all very pleased and really delighted. We had an interview back in January in contention for an award. We've waited for nine months to find out whether we were successful. It was a real treat to have that and a real sense of appreciation and honour.”

They’ve worked with over 200 volunteers and regularly support over 1500 people in their Selsey community. The amount of support activities, groups and monthly newsletter help to keep the community connected.