Free transport service in Harbury and Leamington dementia charity are among the winners of The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service

Three services in South Warwickshire have received The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Free transport service Harbury e-Wheels, The Pam Britton Trust for Dementia in Leamington and the South Warwickshire-based Kissing it Better which helps to address isolation amongst older people have all received the award which is the highest honour voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE.

Harbury e-Wheels launched in the autumn of 2015 and became a registered charity the following year.

The charity offers free transport to people in need referred by local surgeries and social agencies, is funded entirely by donations and trust fund grants and

uses two electric cars.

It therefore combines social purpose with environmental benefit.

Since its launch it has provided more than 6,500 hours of volunteer driving, covering more than 58,000 miles, and completed around 275 deliveries of groceries donated by Harbury residents to local food banks.

During the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, Harbury eWheels continued to deliver to the food bank in St Peter’s Church, Kineton, weekly, providing around 4.4 tonnes of food and groceries.

Although the charity’s volunteers were not able to transport passengers at those times they still collected prescriptions for housebound self-isolating people.

The charity serves an area much wider than the village, offering to pick up people from within a radius of 15 miles of Harbury.

Bob Sherman BEM, the chairman of Harbury e-Wheels, said: “I have long wanted to find a way to show our fantastic volunteers how much they are appreciated, so I am delighted that our group’s work has been recognised.

"They may tell me that the opportunity to help others is reward enough but I wanted more for them.

“I hope also that it shows our donors how valuable their support is in keeping e-Wheels rolling.”

A total of 244 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups received The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service this year.

Recipients are announced each year on June 2, the anniversary of The Queen’s Coronation.