North Yorkshire Knitters Honored with King’s Award for Voluntary Service

A collective of knitters from North Yorkshire has been granted the King’s most prestigious award for voluntary service. The Ripon Community Poppy Project, established seven years prior, was founded with the purpose of marking the centenary of World War One’s conclusion through knitted exhibits. Their most recent undertaking involved a life-sized knitted tank, created to observe the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The volunteers were informed today that they had been bestowed with the King’s Award for Voluntary Service, an honor equivalent to an individual’s appointment as an MBE. Stuart Martin, a co-organiser of the group, disclosed that he had been aware of the award for approximately three weeks, having been “sworn to secrecy”. The knitters had been summoned to Hazel House, under the belief they were attending a photoshoot. Mr Martin remarked, “It was magical to watch everybody’s face, it was really nice and it was well deserved.” “So many people have put so much time in, I can only say thank you to everybody from sponsors to individual people to volunteers, they’ve been so supportive of everything we do.” Hazel Barker, another organiser, stated she was “absolutely flabbergasted, astonished and proud” of the knitters’ accomplishments. She added, “Every single person who has done a little bit has made it all come together.” The knitted creations have garnered significant national attention, and the group expressed hope that these projects would attract increased visitor numbers to Ripon. Additionally, North Yorkshire’s Lower Ure Conservation Trust was also a recipient of the King’s Award for Voluntary Service. This trust possesses and oversees Nosterfield Nature Reserve, a 250-acre location that has been rehabilitated from former sand and gravel extraction sites. Over the years, volunteers have constructed observation hides, improved wet grassland habitat for threatened wildlife species, and established a reedbed and fen. The trust conveyed that receiving the award constituted “the most tremendous honour”. Highlights from North Yorkshire are available for listening on BBC Sounds, and the latest episode of Look North can be viewed. Submissions for stories the BBC should cover are welcome here. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.