Luton Council of Faiths receives The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Luton Council of Faiths has been honoured with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.

The group actively promotes peace, reconciliation, healing and harmony in Luton through a variety of community development work and activities across ages for people to befriend and work in solidarity with each other.

Luton Council of Faiths is one of 241 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year - and the only one in Bedfordshire. The number of nominations remains high year on year, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to make life better for those around them.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, considered the MBE for volunteer groups, aims to recognise outstanding work by volunteer groups to benefit their local communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate The Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Recipients are announced each year on June 2, the anniversary of The Queen’s Coronation.

Representatives of Luton Council of Faiths will receive the award crystal and certificate from HM Lord-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Helen Nellis, later this summer. Furthermore, two volunteers from Luton Council of faiths will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2022 (depending on Covid restrictions at the time), along with other recipients of this year’s award.

Zafar Khan, Chair of Luton Council of Faiths said: “We are extremely delighted to receive this award recognising the hard work of our volunteers, young and old from different faiths and

cultures supporting our work over the years especially in schools where children participate in our numerous events culminating in our Annual Peace Walk event. This recognition is also

timely as Luton Council of Faiths celebrates its 25th anniversary.”

Mrs Nellis said "I am delighted that Luton Council of Faiths has been recognised for it is doing a tremendous job of reaching out to the various groups within our community and helping people to live in peace and harmony. My sincere congratulations to all at Luton Council of Faiths; I look forward to presenting them with their award."

> Nominations for the 2022 awards close on September 15, 2021. Full details on how to nominate are available at https://qavs.culture.gov.uk