Community Orchard in Milton Keynes gets Kings Award for Voluntary Services

Wolverton Community Orchard started from the imaginative idea of a small group of locals 20 years ago and has been maintained and supported since then by a stalwart band of volunteers.

We are delighted and proud to report that we have won the King’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a local voluntary group can receive, being equivalent to an MBE.

The volunteers that maintain the orchard’s hedges, plant beds and over 50 fruit trees during our weekly sessions are supported by the musicians and cooks who help to make our regular community events so popular.

We are grateful to the additional efforts of corporate volunteers (3 groups this year), to MK Green Gym and of course our council caretakers who keep the grass in good trim throughout the year.

Wolverton and Greenleys Town Council owns the site and continues to be incredibly supportive of our efforts. We’ve welcomed some new faces this year at our Tuesday volunteering sessions from 10am till 1230pm or so, please come and join us!

We are one of 262 local groups and charities across the UK to win the King’s Award this year. It was created in 2002 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee and is being continued by His Majesty King Charles.

Orchard group founder and chair Yvonne Galuszka said, “this award is gratefully accepted on behalf of all our supporters over the past 20 years and it provides even more encouragement to continue our work for the community”.